Carbon Nanotubes Are Back in Black(er)!

NASA's optics engineer John Hagopian and his team of researchers are pushing the limit with nanotechnology optics at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. This is a major milestone on the road to Hagopian's goal of surfacing super-black nanotechnology that will eventually make spacecraft equipment more sensitive without changing their size. Space telescopes will also be able to work efficiently and receive more accurate data by minimizing the reflections coming into the dark space telescopes. 

The way the team approached this goal was by improving carbon nanotubes, which are hollow tubes of carbon with a 1-nanometer diameter. The team proved that a layer of carbon nanotubes can be grown using another emerging technology called atomic layer disposition, or ALD. Combining the two technologies means that NASA can grow nanotubes on three-dimensional components, such as complex baffles and tubes used in optical instruments.

NASA's optics engineer John Hagopian working with a nanotube material sample. Image courtest of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.  

This method hopes to help ensure accurate data coming from space telescopes. Currently there is a Z306 black paint coating inside the space telescopes, but when light enters from the Earth or a star, the data is skewed and only about 40% of the information received can be used. However, with the formation of enlarged carbon nanotubes, the black coating becomes about 10 times darker than ever before, so there's no need to get rid of a good portion of the collected data. Another reason behind this success were the multi-walled nanotubes the team developed, which can absorb more light than the single-walled tubes. 

Hagopian's project has been in the process for five years now, and if he and his team keep up the testing of carbon nanotube growth through atomic layer disposition, we will most likely see an improved addition to future spacecraft. 

For more information, visit nasa.gov. 

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