ZECOAT CORPORATION — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S2.03
ZECOAT CORPORATION — SBIR Phase I award from National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Phase I SBIR feasibility signal
- Phase I awards fund proof-of-concept work. For capture teams, they mark early interest from National Aeronautics and Space Administration in a technical approach.
- Watch for Phase II follow-ons from the same firm/topic family — that conversion path is where budgets and transition pressure rise.
- Obligated amount $124,870. Cross-check similar awards in the same agency and technology tags for going-rate context.
- Topic code S2.03 links this award to a solicitation family — search the same topic stem for incumbents and recompete timing.
- Amount
- $124,870
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Topic
- S2.03
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- CA
- Period
- 2014-06-20 → 2014-12-19
Description
ZeCoat Corporation will develop and demonstrate a set of revolutionary coating processes for making broadband reflective coatings suitable for very large mirrors (4+ meters). Decades of research and flight missions (Hubble, GALAX and FUSE) have utilized metal fluorides such as, MgF2 and LiF, applied to Al to achieve FUVOIR coating requirements. While metal fluoride-protected Al remains the best option for meeting broadband reflectance requirements (90-nm to 2500-nm), ZeCoat offers a means to build upon the best known and proven coating recipe (the GSFC 3-step process) by: 1) utilizing ZeCoat's unique precision motion-controlled deposition system to uniformly apply a 5-nm layer (a requirement of the GSFC recipe) of coating material to a large coating area, 2) protecting mirror assemblies from damaging high temperatures by heating only the mirror surface using radiant heat (the GSFC process requires a 220C metal-fluoride deposition temperature), 3) using an FUV reflectometer (120-nm to 180-nm) integrated into the coating chamber to optimize the coating process for FUV reflectance and 4) investigating the feasibility of using a layer of Sn to protect LiF from degradation due to atmospheric moisture and organic contamination during ground storage and re-evaporate the Sn once the observatory is placed in-orbit.