Boston Micromachines Awarded Contract

!%Boston Micromachines Corp.%! of Cambridge, Mass., has received a $750,000 Phase II NASA Small Business Innovation Research contract to support NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration program. The company produces deformable mirrors based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The contract will expand upon the results – increased device reliability – achieved in the company’s first phase project. Under the new grant, the company will construct a 2048 actuator, a continuous face sheet MEMS mirror with enhanced reliability to handle the harsh environments in which space-based imaging instruments operate. Deformable mirrors correct residual aberrations that space telescope optics cannot address.