OUTPOST TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: N23A-T022

Description

Outpost Technologies, the CAO, and EO Solutions shall produce UV-class flat optical mirrors meeting the requirements above using proven flight-heritage material, machining, polishing, and coating processes.  Aluminum metal matrix composites (AlMMCs) have unique material properties that provide both mechanically and thermally stable substrates for mirror systems, especially in harsh launch and thermally volatile environments.  Materion’s SupremEX alloys are superior to aluminum in their mechanical performance.  SupremEX 640XA has almost twice the specific stiffness of aluminum and other traditional aerospace metals due to the 40% SiC content by volume.  The SiC content not only improves mechanical performance, wear resistance, strength, and vibration survivability, but also reduces the CTE to near identical that of nickel. Nickel is easily diamond turned, polished, and coated for a wide range of EM spectrum applications.  SupremEX and other AlMMCs are traditionally machinable on manual or CNC machining platforms unlike glass and composites which require diamond cutting/grinding, cost-intensive molds, bonding processes, casting, curing and process validations.  The material is also readily available from domestic sources.  The SupremEX material properties trade exceptionally well in optical applications. Therefore, Outpost Technologies is continuing to improve manufacturing and design methods with AlMMCs to prove viability for space optical applications. SupremEX is commercially available in billets, forgings, extrusions, plates, sheets, foils, and precision machined components, some of which are controlled by AMS standards. The proposed mirror deliverables will include five (5) total 25.4 mm x 6 mm thick (1.00” x 0.25”) flat mirror discs for the Phase I Base effort and three (3) total 76 mm x 9.5 mm thick (3.00” x 0.375”) lightweighted mirrors for the Phase I option.  All mirrors stock and machine tooling have already been purchased and are in stock at Outpost Technologies.  This Phase I effort is hardware driven, aiming to prove technical capability, and cost benefits of AlMMC materials for small sat UV mirror applications versus conventional aluminum, glass, and composite materials. Outpost and its partners will focus is to provide a lightweight, highly precise solution, which validates the use of this material specifically for UV/VUV spectrum application. The proposed solution meets the specifications listed in Table 1.  This material and application technology currently reside at TRL 3 with multiple proof of concept studies, analyses and experiments completed. During the 12-month period of performance, Outpost Technologies will design and manufacture two (2) flat mirror designs. This demonstration would meet TRL 5 maturity by proving basic functionality, identifying technical benefits, correlating analytical data to prototype testing, and identifying improvements for more complex geometry manufacturing.