In-Salvo: In-Space Deposition of Optical Coatings for Directed Energy Defeat of Cruise Missiles

The U.S. Department of Defense requires the ability to affordably and prolifically fabricate ultra-high-reflective (99.9999%) dielectric optical components to enable 1MW power directed energy cruise missile defense systems by 2023. Existing state-of-the-art optical coatings are unable to meet these reflectivity requirements as state-of-the-art terrestrial production vacuum chambers are unable remove the contaminant particulates which degrades the performance of these coatings to levels which are unable to withstand energy levels of 1MW lasers. Lunar Resources, the corporate spin-out of NASA’s Wake Shield Facility Program and technology leader in in-space vacuum deposition technology aims to leverage +15 years of government and private industry investment into in-space deposition technology to develop a future DoD architecture where ultra-high reflective dielectric coatings are fabricated and deposited onto optical laser apertures in space’s ultra-high vacuum environment which is then transported back to earth to supply DoD with airborne optical components to enable their next-generation cruise missile defense architecture. Lunar Resources Phase I Special Topic SBIR aims to deliver a study demonstrating the revolutionary change and feasibility of depositing dielectric optical coatings onto optical laser apertures in space and transport them back to Earth to enable a new supply chain architecture for DoD cruise missile defense systems.