High Reflectivity, Broad-Band Silver Coating

Silver coatings for optics greater than 2-meters in diameter are sought by NASA for future space telescope systems. In the Phase I research, Surface Optics Corporation (SOC) investigated several new coating systems for protecting silver. The new coating designs are derivations based on a patented coating design created at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The new designs improve the coating's reflectance performance, particularly in the UV region, while maintaining stability in humid and/or corrosive environments. In addition, SOC devised and installed a new piece of coating equipment, which improves the ability to apply exceptionally thin protective layers, by better monitoring the shape of the evaporation plume.

TMT, Hobby-Eberly (HET), SALT, GTC, and Solar Concentrator Systems for power generation.

Fills enabling technology need primarily for Astrophysics mission: SIM, TPF, JDEM (SNAP). Potential benefit to future misions in Heliophysics and Planetary Science.

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.

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.