Reactive Atom Plasma Processing of Slumped Glass Wedges, Phase I

The Reactive Atom Plasma (RAP^TM) process will be evaluated as a rapid and practical method for fabricating precision wedges in glass sheets. The glass sheets are to be slumped using the same process as developed by NASA for the next generation of X-ray telescopes. The wedged sheets are to serve as alignment spacers for the multi-segmented grazing-incidence mirror design. RAP is possibly the only method capable of fabricating the wedge glass sheets within a viable process period and at a reasonable cost to validate the current alignment and assembly concept for the Constellation-X SXT telescopes. Conventional abrasive-based processes for fabricating the thousands of glass wedges required would consume enormous processing time which virtually invalidates the entire "Fabricate and Assemble" concept for the final telescope integration and assembly.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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