NASA Creates Super-Black Carbon Nanotube Coating

An anonymous reader writes "NASA has just revealed a new, super-black material, claiming it is the most light absorbent material ever developed, and capable of absorbing 99% of ultraviolet, infrared, far-infrared, and visible light. The super-black material is about 10,000 times thinner than a human hair and created using carbon nanotubes. Those nanotubes are positioned and grown on multiple other materials including silicon, stainless steel, and titanium. The process of applying the coating requires heating the surface up to 1,382 degrees in an oven filled with a 'carbon-coating feedstock gas.' As well as being up to 100x more absorbent than anything that has come before, the coating is significantly lighter than the black paint and epoxy commonly used today to absorb light. Because the light absorption level is so high, the super-black material will also keep temperatures down for the instruments it is used on. And that very high absorption rate brings one final big advantage: it allows measurements to be taken at much greater distances in space because it removes the light emitted from around planets and stars as well as any generally high-contrast area of space."

Comments

Complicated manufacturing process

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't they just buy a 1300$ Makerbot? I've been assured by Slashdotters that "3D printing", as embodied in a stolen design of a glue gun at the end of a stepper motor's shaft, will not only revolutionize manufacturing (of everything, I suppose, they never specified), but also home manufacturing. And I suppose that means both manufacturing stuff in your home, and 3D printing of concrete to print the home itself.

So the mind boggles why NASA would use such weird old ideas like physics, chemistry and machinery?

(And in case you don't get it, I'm mocking the overly naive and enthusiastic geeks that seem to flock to unrealistic ideas)

Re:1,382 degrees F

[Anonymous Coward]

You teabaggers never quit, do you? Solyandra wasn't a scandal, it was an attempt to do things right!

Yes yes, guaranteeing a loan that your own accountants say can't be payed back, because the company has no business plan and is losing money hand over fist is "doing things right".

Solyndra the technology was mildly interesting, but not particularly special. Solyndra the business was a train wreck, and should never have gotten the loan guarantee. But hey, the government handing out tax dollars for corrupt, selfish reasons has only been happening for a few millenia now, so it's still kind of a new concept, I can see how you'd be shocked at the prospect.