NASA’s carbon nanotube know-how 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 Heart, this carbon nanotube know-how 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, fabricated from multiwalled carbon nanotubes, types a vertical “forest” the place gentle enters and will get trapped, changing into warmth as an alternative of reflecting. This property is essential for NASA’s devices, as stray gentle can hinder the sensitivity of observations. When utilized to telescope buildings, carbon nanotubes can remove a lot of this stray gentle, enabling extra exact measurements.
Observing exoplanets is a big problem since they orbit stars which are billions of occasions brighter than the planets themselves. Specialised devices known as coronagraphs are used to dam out the star’s gentle, permitting the dim exoplanets to be noticed. The carbon nanotube materials is vital in these coronagraphs to reduce stray gentle, enhancing the detection of those distant worlds.
The Liveable Worlds Observatory will make the most of the same strategy in its quest to seek out liveable exoplanets. By analyzing the sunshine spectrum captured by HWO, scientists will establish gases comparable to water vapor and oxygen, which may 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 acquired Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis (SBIR) funding. The method entails rising carbon nanotubes on mirrors in exact patterns to remove stray gentle the place it’s more than likely to intervene.
The fabrication of those mirrors entails 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 gentle have to be eradicated.
Superior Nanophotonics has already delivered these mirrors and different parts 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 know-how 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 Coloration Instrument aboard the PACE mission, the place carbon nanotube coatings are used to forestall stray gentle from affecting measurements. Moreover, the crew is growing carbon nanotubes to be used in electron beam emitters and a breathalyzer for detecting Covid-19.
This carbon nanotube know-how is proving invaluable not solely in area exploration but in addition in numerous functions on Earth.
Associated Hyperlinks
NASA TechPort
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Life Past Earth