Space-Stable, Electrically Conductive, Thermal-Control Coatings

We propose to develop an innovative class of electrically conductive thermal control coatings (both white and black). This will be accomplished through the use of current state-of-the-art organo-metallic, sol-gel techniques and the use of state-of-the-art solid state physics, chemical sciences and computer modeling techniques. The proposed effort will explore the feasibility to produce coatings that will have electrical resistivities several orders of magnitude below those typically in current use. The ultimate objective of this program is to develop electrically conductive coatings that will have stable electrical properties while maintaining the desired solar absorptance and high thermal emittance over long periods of exposure to the hostile space environment. The effort proposed encompasses the use of state-of-the-art science and technology to determine the feasibility of producing highly electrically conductive pigments and coatings in laboratory quantities and to evaluate the feasibility of designing the most effective coatings through the use of computer modeling techniques. The anticipated results are a number of electrically effective, space stable coatings that can be confidently used by NASA and the aerospace industry in general to provide protection to spacecraft from electrical charge build-up and solar heating problems in a single coating system.