Advanced Mirror Material System

Peregrine will bring together recent laboratory developments and mature the technology so that complete mirror and telescope assemblies can be reliably and robustly produced. This proposed innovation will lower the cost of space mirrors from their current state of the art of $6.4 m/m2 to less than $1.6 m/m2 while maintaining low weight, high stiffness and high performance for x-ray, neutron and UV/optical mirrors.

Potential uses, first and most obvious are for the applications currently under consideration for NASA large optical systems. That in and of itself will be a substantial technological success that will enable the advancement of the current state of the art of this innovative material system. In addition, this technology will be adaptable to other satellite programs.

This advanced material system as it applies to mirrors for both UV/optical and x-ray optics can be applied to many research and development applications here on earth. Fast scan mirrors and surveillance systems rely upon low density, high stiffness and high performance optics. This material system can provide solutions. In addition, commercial and military optical systems, particularly Earth observation satellites like Google Earth and other systems could benefit from this technology.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.