Technology developed during this SBIR program will be directly applied to any NASA telescope program involved with exoplanet discovery and characterization that needs an external occulter, or Starshade. NASA has identified a potential rendezvous mission with WFIRST/AFTA because it is a large astrophysics telescope capable of supporting direct imaging with a starshade.
Technology developed during this Phase II SBIR would apply to any structure requiring a precise edge for light suppression. More specifically it would apply to precision joining methods between dissimilar materials like thin metals to carbon fiber composites. Other applications would include blanketing for thermal and light mitigation that is typically needed for space based telescopes. Methods of packaging large scale gossamer-like structures to fit within standard launch vehicle fairings and survive the launch environment can be applied to future large space deployables.
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