Music.
Music.
My name
is Stephanie Getty. I use micro and nano technology
to make better scientific instruments for spaceflight
My name is John Hagopian, I am an optical
physicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The exciting part about this
work is; it's kind of pushing new boundaries on what we do with nano technology
in terms of optics. Stephanie Getty: It is a hollow tube
that's made entirely out of carbon and the diameter is a nanometer.
If this was the size of an actual nanotube and you were to scale me up
proportionately, then I would be tall enough to reach the moon. Because
the nanotubes are so small, we can only use a scanning electron microscope to be able
to see them. The method that we use
is called catalyst assisted chemical vapor deposition.
That grows carbon nanotubes on a substrate. John: You put the substrate in this tube
you heat the tube up to about 750C and you flow a gas
and the gas has carbon in it. Because of the catalyst layer you start to
assemble these tubes. Carbon takes a very specific form as it grows.
Stephanie: So one example where
carbon nanotubes can enhance the performance of a scientific instrument
in space is through their ability to absorb light.
John: The Z306 paint is the blackest thing that we put on instruments right now.
The fact that we are blacker than that I guess makes us blacker than black in terms of
performance. When light from
the Earth or a star hits an instrument
or structures inside of the instrument it gets scattered over all angles. A lot of the data
gets contaminated. So, it turns out up to 40 percent of the data
could be unusable. Stephanie: So, the current telescopes use black paint.
to reduce the reflection but the black paint isn't perfect
it still shows a reflection. John: over the course of our work, we were able to 
optimize the carbon nanotubes to make them 10 times darker than the paint.
You could get a better observational efficiency; you are not throwing away 40
percent of your data.
The Goddard samples
were grown multi walled so they are not just single walled nanotubes and they are 
also oriented straight up and down. The reason that
the oriented samples are darker is because they are low density
light can go in, it gets rattled around in there and it gets absorbed.
Voice over launch countdown: 4, 3, 2
1, and lift off...Stephanie: So, when we prepare a new technology
for spaceflight, we need to consider the different environments that
the technology is going to experience. John: So, if we are going to fly something in space, we can't
have the nanotubes falling off and contaminating mirrors. So, we had to make sure
that they are very robust. Over a long period of time
after all these experiments, we discovered that aluminum is really the
trick to getting the nanotubes to scratch them off, they are very
robust. Stephanie: So, we are interested in vibration testing for these carbon nanotubes to
determine how well they adhere to the substrate and whether they will be
liberated during launch. The other thing that we do test is thermal
conditions. When your spacecraft is flying through space
it gets very cold and actually it gets exposed to radiation.
So, those are to of the other tests that we expose our technologies to before we
fly them. John: So, the first instrument that we are using them on right now is actually ORCA.
That's an Earth science instrument. Another thing that we've looked at is using
them on LISA, which is a gravity wave experiment.
Stephanie: One area where carbon nanotubes have made it into the
market place is in sporting goods, to make stronger, more robust, lighter
weight bicycle frames, tennis rackets. Those are
some examples of where you can go out and buy carbon nanotube composites.
John: At this point we feel like
we have nanotubes that are robust, we can grow them on different materials.
They are very dark. So, we are very close now to getting to the point where we are going to
qualify these for spaceflight use.
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Music outro.
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