SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Tendeg, LLC
686 South Taylor Avenue, Suite 108
Louisville, CO 80027 - 3000
(303) 929-4466

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Gregg Freebury
gregg@tendeg.com
686 South Taylor Avenue, Suite 108
Louisville, CO 80027 - 3000
(303) 929-4466

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Gregg Freebury
gregg@tendeg.com
686 South Taylor Avenue, Suite 108
Louisville, CO 80027 - 3000
(303) 929-4466

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 5

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Proximity Glare Suppression for Astronomical Coronagraphy is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The proposed Phase II program will refine and mature the design of the optical edge, optical shield and snubber assemblies within a Starshade petal. Prototypes of each sub-assembly will be built and tested after a rigorous trade study. The final sub-assembly designs will be built and integrated to a complete petal assembly that utilizes flight-like materials and fabrication processes. The full petal assembly will be tested to demonstrate survival to launch packaging and temperature extremes. A segment of a petal will be delivered to NASA JPL for thermal distortion and stability tests. More specifically, the optical edge assembly efforts will address the integration of a micro-thin metal alloy to a low CTE composite substrate and the alignment and handling procedures required to accurately position each segment to the petal structure. The optical shield effort will address opacity, thermal expansion, micrometeoroid mitigation and venting. The snubber effort will address preload, alignment and support for the petals in the furled and launch configuration.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Technology developed during this SBIR program will be directly applied to any NASA telescope program involved with exoplanet discovery and characterization that needs an external occulter, or Starshade. NASA has identified a potential rendezvous mission with WFIRST/AFTA because it is a large astrophysics telescope capable of supporting direct imaging with a starshade.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Technology developed during this Phase II SBIR would apply to any structure requiring a precise edge for light suppression. More specifically it would apply to precision joining methods between dissimilar materials like thin metals to carbon fiber composites. Other applications would include blanketing for thermal and light mitigation that is typically needed for space based telescopes. Methods of packaging large scale gossamer-like structures to fit within standard launch vehicle fairings and survive the launch environment can be applied to future large space deployables.