Collaborations

1. NGMSA Applications for Sounding Rocket Programs

Collaborators – Bloomberg Center for Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University

Prof. Stephan R. McCandliss - director, Center for Astrophysical Sciences, and the Prof. McCandliss' team at JHU.

Collaboration between JHU and NASA GSFC has been carried on in over a decade. Microshutter array assemblies have been developed and assembled with telescopes, including:

Big D assemblies for FORTIS (magnetically actuated MSAs), launched in 2013 and 2015.

FORTIS launch at the White Sand Missile Range in New Mexico.

Big θ assemblies for NG-FORTIS (electrostatically actuated NGMSA), launched in 2019.

NGMSA Microshutter Array — NGMSA Micro-Shutter Array

2. NGMSA 3-D Printing Development

Collaborators – OPTOMEC Inc.

Dr. Michael Renn, CTO and Director of Advanced Applications Lab

Mr. Mike Dean, the Marketing Director

OPTOMEC team and NGMSA Team are developing 3D-Printing interconnects for NGMSA assemblies using aerosol jet printing technology.

Interconnects for front electrodes of NGMSA array, 200µm pitch, 1.5mm step.

Interconnects for back electrodes, 100µm pitch, 100 µm step.

Collaborators – nScrypt, Inc.

Coming soon.

3. NGMSA Antistiction Coating

Collaborators – Integrated Surface Technologies (IST)

Dr. Jeff Chinn, Chief Technical Officer

Collaboration between IST and NASA GSFC is focused on antistiction coating on NGMSA to prevent shutter blade stiction to light shields or back walls. The chemistry of monolayer molecular oxide is studied, the coating processes, and post-coating inspection techniques have been developed.

Anti-stiction coatings are utilized to make device surfaces super hydrophobic.

4. NGMSA Antireflection Coating with Nano Metamaterials Collaborator – Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University