AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.

MEMS Headed for Space.

Microtechnology News

| March 01, 2000 | COPYRIGHT 2000 BCC Research. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

Sandia National Laboratory (P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185) researchers are developing micromirrors that may eventually be part of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), the successor to the Hubble telescope. In contrast to the Hubble, the NGST will be very sensitive to infrared radiation. With its large, light-gathering mirror and premier resolution, NGST will be capable of detecting faint infrared signals which are believed to be indicative of interstellar conditions 100 million to 1 billion years after the "big bang."

NASA approached Sandia about the development of prototype MEMS mirrors that could be a part of the NGST, which is scheduled for launch in 2008. Recently, an array of working mirrors was demonstrated at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD) by engineers from Sandia. Arrays of mirrors, each 1,000 micron by 100 micron, with 1-micron gaps between adjacent mirrors, were lined up in rows of three. Each row tilted 10 in unison, which is considered a large angle for this design. The reported goal is to have 4 million of these independently moving mirrors in the NGST, along with a large light collecting mirror.

Micromirrors, which have been covered many times in MTN, are MEMS products that are being used extensively in projection displays, motion picture equipment, and other communications products. The mirrors used for this space application are fabricated by depositing thin films of polycrystalline ...

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, journals, and more
Decision due on station-space flight restructuring; Augustine panel to meet...
Newspaper article from: Defense Daily August 23, 1991 700+ words
...organizational changes in NASA's Offices of Space Flight and Space Station, according to William...Lenoir, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight. Lenoir, in an interview with Defense...called for a separation of NASA's space flight operations and space flight ...
NASA HUMEN SPACE FLIGHT PLANS:JOSEPH W. DYER
Transcript from: Congressional Testimony September 15, 2009 700+ words
...Options and Issues for NASA`s Human Space Flight Program. The Aerospace Safety Advisory...shared with the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee on 14 July of this year...released by the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. They quickly conducted...
FUTURE OF U.S. HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT UNCERTAIN WITHOUT ADDITIONAL FUNDS
Transcript from: Capitol Hill Press Releases September 15, 2009 700+ words
...Immediate Release Future of U.S. Human Space Flight Uncertain Without Additional Funds Press...report of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, a report requested...review options for the future of human space flight. "It is my opinion that NASA has the...
Acclimation during space flight: effects on human physiology
Magazine article from: Canadian Medical Association. Journal Williams, David; Kuipers, Andre; Mukai, Chiaki; Thirsk, Robert June 23, 2009 700+ words
...place in short- and long-duration space flight, most often in response to microgravity...associated with almost 50 years of human space flight, will be critical in developing countermeasures...physiologic and psychological responses to the space-flight environment. Table 1 provides a ...
United Space Alliance and NASA Sign Space Flight Operations Contract
Press release article from: PR Newswire September 30, 1996 700+ words
...Alliance (USA) and NASA today signed the Space Flight Operations Contract (SFOC) at the...contract is approximately $7 billion. The Space Flight Operations Contract includes responsibility...many tasks and challenges ahead." The Space Flight Operations Contract represents a new...
UND-North Dakota Space Grant Consortium to unveil unique new space flight...
Press release article from: M2 Presswire April 13, 2009 700+ words
...Grant Consortium to unveil unique new space flight simulator(C)1994-2009 M2 COMMUNICATIONS...will unveil a SpaceShip One-based space flight simulator-the second of two unique...Studies and principal investigator of the space flight simulator project. 'Now we are doubly...
Space Flight/Space Station offices consolidated. (NASA's Office of Space Flight)
Newspaper article from: Defense Daily November 9, 1989 700+ words
SPACE FLIGHT/SPACE STATION OFFICES CONSOLIDATED. NASA...provided new details on the consolidation of the Space Flight and Space Station offices into a single entity--the Office of Space Flight (OSF), headed by Associate Administrator...
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Honored as Pillar Data Systems 100th Customer;...
Press release article from: Business Wire June 12, 2006 700+ words
...systems, today announced NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as the company's 100th customer...Data Analysis Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Pillar Axiom(TM) Storage...re thrilled to include NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to our growing customer roster...
For more facts and information, see all results
©2009 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
About us | FAQs | Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions
Other Gale sites: Encyclopedia.com | HighBeam Research | Acquire Content | Books & Authors | Goliath | MovieRetriever | Smart QandA