A major Non-NASA Commercial application involves the advancement of high temperature superconductor (HTS) technologies. In the same way that the Apollo program advanced the semiconductor industry in the 1960s, JWST and future Lunar Missions will do the same for HTS as the development of complex 30K-hardware is required for success. The potential benefits of these advances in HTS technologies for all mankind are immeasurable. Being able to measure the large scale setup and configuration of optical polishing and manufacturing systems a the sub-micron level at a distance with out interfering with the system my prove to be a very valuable capability. These techniques will allow the measuring devices to peer into harsh or toxic environments such as hermetically-sealed beryllium machining centers. There are also many harsh and toxic environments in electronics manufacturing processes that require the precise, non-contact measurement and control of large scale systems.
NASA Commercial applications include next-generation Cryogenic Telescopes (JWST, WFIRST) and future Lunar Missions. There will be many lander, rover, and eventually manned missions to explore the ices at the Lunar poles in the coming decades. Technology must be developed to build and test these complex, dynamic systems that must comfortably operate as low as 25K (Hermite Crater). We believe that these techniques will be a critical enabling technology for these challenging and exiting missions. This innovation will also open the door for smaller, low-budget projects to take advantage of this risk-reducing metrology system. The modularity of the system will allow entire small and nano-satellites to be completely surveyed for alignment verification purposes through out the integration process.
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