High-Z / Low-Z Layered Nano-Composite Radiation Shielding for Advanced Space Asset Protection

NanoSperse proprietary polymeric high-Z / low-Z layered radiation shielding has demonstrated the potential to be up to 50% lighter weight and 30% thinner than comparable aluminum shielding, providing enhanced solar radiation shielding that enables greater avionics survivability while reducing launch costs, increasing payload capacity, and decreasing the risk of utilizing COTS electronics. In this effort NanoSperse will build upon production scale-up activities completed in 2022 to increase production yield by 2x minimum while increasing quality and driving down price in advance of near-term production orders for 50-100 multilayer cover shields. In addition, NanoSperse will install production enhancement software to digitally capture critical manufacturing process setting with full traceability to input feedstock dispersion batch numbers and output layer/shield serial numbers. This system will be used to aggregate data for predictive algorithm generation to recommend processing conditions for custom layer creation, accelerating development cycle time. In parallel, Karax LLC will be contracted to develop a 1D software tool to model the proton radiation shielding effectiveness of layered, custom architecture high-Z / low-Z shielding for use in optimizing shields for mission specific DoD space assets.