NASA’s carbon nanotube expertise aids seek for life on exoplanets
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 05, 2024
NASA’s improvement of a carbon nanotube materials is poised to considerably improve the seek for exoplanets, a few of which can harbor life. Initially devised in 2007 by a crew led by John Hagopian and Stephanie Getty at NASA’s Goddard Area Flight Middle, this carbon nanotube expertise is now being refined for potential use on NASA’s upcoming Liveable Worlds Observatory (HWO). HWO would be the first telescope designed particularly to detect indicators of life on exoplanets.
Carbon nanotubes resemble graphene – a single layer of carbon atoms organized in a hexagonal sample – however are rolled right into a tube. This super-dark materials, product of multiwalled carbon nanotubes, kinds a vertical “forest” the place mild enters and will get trapped, changing into warmth as a substitute of reflecting. This property is essential for NASA’s devices, as stray mild can hinder the sensitivity of observations. When utilized to telescope constructions, carbon nanotubes can remove a lot of this stray mild, enabling extra exact measurements.
Observing exoplanets is a big problem since they orbit stars which might be billions of occasions brighter than the planets themselves. Specialised devices known as coronagraphs are used to dam out the star’s mild, permitting the dim exoplanets to be noticed. The carbon nanotube materials is crucial in these coronagraphs to attenuate stray mild, enhancing the detection of those distant worlds.
The Liveable Worlds Observatory will make the most of the same method in its quest to seek out liveable exoplanets. By analyzing the sunshine spectrum captured by HWO, scientists will determine gases equivalent to water vapor and oxygen, which might point out the presence of life.
To create a carbon-nanotube-coated apodizer mirror appropriate for the HWO, Hagopian’s firm, Superior Nanophotonics, LLC, has obtained Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis (SBIR) funding. The method includes rising carbon nanotubes on mirrors in exact patterns to remove stray mild the place it’s most probably to intervene.
The fabrication of those mirrors includes a number of steps, together with the preparation of a silicon mirror substrate, coating it with layers of dielectric and steel, and patterning the mirror floor utilizing a light-sensitive materials and a laser. The mirror is then uncovered to excessive temperatures in a furnace to permit the carbon nanotubes to develop solely in designated areas, making certain the mirror stays reflective the place wanted and extremely absorbent the place stray mild have to be eradicated.
Superior Nanophotonics has already delivered these mirrors and different elements to numerous researchers, who’re testing them to refine designs for future telescopes. Though reaching the specified distinction ratio is at the moment past the capabilities of ground-based telescopes, testing on Earth helps develop the expertise and guides the targets that HWO would possibly observe.
The corporate’s work has additionally led to collaborations on different area missions, together with the NASA Ocean Shade Instrument aboard the PACE mission, the place carbon nanotube coatings are used to forestall stray mild from affecting measurements. Moreover, the crew is creating carbon nanotubes to be used in electron beam emitters and a breathalyzer for detecting Covid-19.
This carbon nanotube expertise is proving invaluable not solely in area exploration but additionally in numerous purposes on Earth.
Associated Hyperlinks
NASA TechPort
Lands Past Past – additional photo voltaic planets – information and science
Life Past Earth