SBIR-STTR Award

Manufacturing grazing incidence x-ray mirrors costs between $4 to $6 million per square meter of optical surface area. To reduce the cost of making x-ray mirrors, NASA is seeking manufacturing solutions to aid in cost reduction factors of 5 to 50 times. One cost driver is the mandrel-based polishing process that impacts both the inside and outside surfaces of an X-ray mirror shell. Current shells are created through a replication process utilizing an aluminum mandrel. OptiPro is proposing to enhance process solutions to reduce the cost required for polishing both the mandrel and the outside shell surface by maintaining a constant force during polishing, developing new polishing tools, and optimizing the polishing algorithm. The target platform for these improvements will be on OptiPro's bridge polishing platform that has a rotary A-axis to spin the part and a combination polishing head that can handle a range of polishing tools while making it easier to rapidly switch between tools. These improvements will be directly applicable to the polishing being done at Marshall Space Flight Center on various equipment including OptiPro's 6-axis UltraForm Finishing platform. OptiPro Systems will focus on the process evaluation and the interface between the polisher and metrology platform to provide a cost effective deterministic solution. A new force-measurement system will also be evaluated for its potential to provide in-situ process feedback during polishing. New polishing tools will be designed, built, and tested along with the pellet tool developed at MSFC and other commercially available polishing tools. Algorithm changes will be required for polishing the surfaces of the x-ray mirror mandrel and shells and will be demonstrated on a surrogate aluminum mandrel. The results of this Phase I effort will enhance the fabrication at MSFC and provide the concept design requirements of a meter class finishing platform which could be built in a Phase II effort. Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): The proposed system will benefit all projects using x-ray shells and mandrels, both cylindrical and segments, that fit within the working envelope of the proposed machine. Missions including IXPE, LYNX, and ESCAPE will be among those that would benefit from the technology being developed. These improvements will be applicable to polishing being done at Marshall Space Flight Center on various equipment including OptiPro's 6-axis UltraForm Finishing platform and polishing being done at Goddard Space Flight Center. Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): The proposed polishing system and hardware improvements would benefit all types of part geometries including the following: Aspheres Freeform optics Spheres Cylindrical optics Ogive missile domes Duration: 6

Manufacturing grazing incidence x-ray mirrors costs between $4 to $6 million per square meter of optical surface area. To reduce the cost of making x-ray mirrors, NASA is seeking manufacturing solutions to aid in cost reduction factors of 5 to 50 times. One cost driver is the mandrel-based polishing process that impacts the inside surface of an X-ray mirror shell. Current shells are created through a replication process utilizing an aluminum mandrel. OptiPro is proposing to enhance process solutions to reduce costs required for polishing both the mandrel and the outside shell surface by maintaining constant force during polishing, developing new polishing tools, and optimizing the polishing algorithm. The target platform for these improvements will be on an OptiPro's polishing platform. These improvements will be directly applicable to the polishing being done at Marshall Space Flight Center on various equipment including OptiPro's UltraForm Finishing platform. OptiPro's Phase II will focus on prototyping hardware and software solutions to provide a cost effective deterministic solution when combined with an optimized polishing process. A rotisserie part A-Axis and a new dual tool polishing head will be updated to an existing bridge polishing platform. A force feedback system will be prototyped and integrated into a polisher to provide in-situ adjustments during polishing. Prototype polishing tools will be further refined and optimized. The polishing algorithms are being enhanced for more efficient polishing and achieving tighter tolerances through improvements to correction algorithms and new adaptive learning routines. The software will be upgraded to incorporate all of these changes. All innovations will be tested on a demonstrator mandrel and processing will be refined to improve surface quality as efficiently as possible. The results of this Phase II will enhance fabrication at MSFC and become commercially available solutions at OptiPro. Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): The proposed system will benefit all projects using x-ray shells and mandrels, both cylindrical and segments that fit within the working envelope that the proposed hardware is installed on. Missions including Lynx and the IR/O/UV space telescope would be among those that would benefit from the technology being developed. These improvements will be applicable to polishing being done at Marshall Space Flight Center on various equipment including OptiPro's UltraForm Finishing platform and polishing being done at Goddard Space Flight Center. Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): The proposed polishing system and hardware improvements would benefit all types of part geometries including the following: Rotationally Symmetric Geometries - Aspheres, Spheres, and Ogive Missile Domes Cylindrical Optics Freeform and Conformal Optics Optics The processes being developed to work with nickel will provide ground work for working on other metal materials, including aluminum. Duration: 24