Black Coatings for Starshade Membranes

Brief Description. ZeCoat is developing a low reflectance coating with high optical density for a starshade’s light blocking membrane. The coatings are designed to produce very dark and specular surfaces. The coatings are to be applied to membrane surfaces such as Kapton TM and CP1 TM and on both a roll of film and a 1-meter framed section.

Funded Research Titles:

1.        “Dark coatings with tailorable BRDF and thermal-emissivity for light-blocking starshade membranes”, David A. Sheikh, ZeCoat Corporation, NASA SBIR Phase II (2021)

2.     “Specular Black Coating for Flexible Starshade Optical Shield”, David A. Sheikh, ZeCoat Corporation, NASA SBIR Phase I (2020)

Identification and Significance of the Innovation:

ZeCoat Corporation will develop a low reflectance coating with high optical density to improve a starshade’s light-blocking membrane. The coatings will be mass-produced by applying them using a novel roll-to-roll vacuum deposition process. The coatings will be applied to polyimide membrane surfaces such as Kapton TM or Novastrat TM.

Low-reflectance surfaces are needed for starshade light -blocking membranes to reduce stray light resulting from out-of-plane petals, and from light sources nearly behind the telescope. Existing darkening materials such as carbon nanotubes and columnar structures such as etched silicon, have poor durability (often create particulates), and the process does not scale easily for large size optics.

For more information on this technology, contact us by email at info@zecoat.com