Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
Springback-Compensated, Submillimeter Reflectors, Phase I
Project Description
Inconsistent radius of curvature of replicated, composite reflector panels limit application of composites to large, segmented telescope apertures. This project proposes to characterize, compensate for, and optimize the behavior of affordable, graphite composite reflector sandwich panels suitable for large aperture, sub-millimeter space and earth science instruments. Advances in understanding and optimizing sandwich panel behavior may enable science missions to obtain new levels of technical performance. Future NASA missions including the Cornell Caltech Atacama Telescope (CCAT) and Global Atmospheric Composition Mission (GACM), require 1 to 4 meter aperture, submillimeter-wavelength, primary reflector (mirror) segments.
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Anticipated Benefits
Government: Renewable energy interests have indicated a desire to field an ever growing number of large solar concentrators. The maturing of the materials, process, and design competencies would position VCG to capture additional work in this area. Key customers in this area are at the Department of Energy and possibly DoD. Commercial: Large, accurate, thermally stable reflectors may be needed for broadband wireless spacecraft. The increasing need to provide internet capabilities to remote locations for commercial applications has lead several service providers and spacecraft manufacturers to consider constellations of spacecraft to meet this need. Lightweight, large-aperture, thermally stable reflectors with micron level tolerances will be needed to meet the ever growing needs for traffic capacity per spacecraft. This program could provide enabling technology for these commercial spacecraft systems. VCG has good contacts within each of the Primes where these opportunities will likely emerge. The capabilities proposed in this SBIR would be relevant to a variety of Space and Earth science missions currently in various stages of formulation. The nearest term target for inserting the reflector technology include the CCAT and SMLS missions. Mission study groups at JPL, Cornell, GSFC, and LaRC (LIDAR) are the most likely customers in this area.
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Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Composites Group, Inc. | Lead Organization | Industry | San Diego, California |
| Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) | Supporting Organization | FFRDC/UARC | Pasadena, California |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
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California
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This is a historic project that was completed before the creation of TechPort on October 1, 2012. Available data has been included. This record may contain less data than currently active projects.