NASA and Lehigh to Share Facilities for Telescope Technology

NASA Tech Briefs, Sep 2005

Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA) and NASA have signed an agreement that gives NASA researchers access to facilities at Lehigh's Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, including electron microscopy facilities. The collaboration will help NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD) develop technologies for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), future Mars rovers, and other spacecraft.

NASA will be using one of Lehigh's two aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopes (TEMs), which can determine the chemical identity of individual atoms. The collaboration will help Lehigh learn how to make the microscopes more easily accessible to users at remote sites. Goddard's lead nanotechnology researcher, Dan Powell, plans to establish an operation interface to gain access to Lehigh's instruments from his Maryland facility. "This kind of real-time remote access to cutting-edge equipment is great for NASA," Powell said. "Not only does it minimize our infrastructure costs, which is a benefit to the taxpayer, but it also allows us to establish an ongoing relationship that will continue to benefit NASA well into the future."

For more information, contact Dewayne Washington of NASA Goddard at 301-286-0040. Visit www.lehigh.edu/nano for more information on Lehigh's nanotechnology facilities.