Vivek Dwivedi and his collaborator, chemical engineering professor Raymond Adomaitis from the University of Maryland, College Park, are using atomic layer deposition (ALD) - a rapidly evolving technology for coating plastics, semiconductors, glass, Teflon, and a plethora of other materials - to create a new super-strong, ultra-thin coating made of tiny tubes of boron nitride, similar in appearance to the bristles on a toothbrush.
SPACE AGE PAINTS ZIP
Micrometeorites, solar particles, and space junk - everything from spent rocket stages to paint fragments - zip past satellites at up to 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) per second, posing hazards to their sensitive spacecraft optics, detectors, and solar panels.Īlthough engineers have developed different techniques to safeguard spacecraft from these fast-moving whirling dervishes, nothing provides 100-percent protection.Ī technologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., however, is experimenting with an emerging technology that might provide another, perhaps more effective, technique for defending sensitive spacecraft components from the high-velocity bombardments. Goddard technologist Vivek Dwivedi (right) and his collaborator, University of Maryland professor Raymond Adomaitis (left), are preparing to insert a sample inside a reactor that will apply a thin film using the atomic layer deposition technique.
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