SCS Hall of Fame
As the leader in Parylene technology, over the years SCS has had the honor to work
on some of the most cutting edge, fascinating and simply historically significant
projects. This is a collection of just a few of the projects we
are especially proud to support.
RMS Titanic
On
April 12, 1912 The RMS Titanic hit an iceberg as it made its maiden transatlantic
voyage. The wreckage of the Titanic sat undisturbed for close to 80 years in
the harsh chilled salt-water environment 5000 ft below the surface of the North
Atlantic.
Recovery efforts ran into a difficult problem when recovering
paper products such as magazines, luggage tags and boarding passes from the
wreckage site. Paper products recovered from the wreckage were left too delicate
to take the transition from a waterlogged state to a natural dried state.
SCS was called in to find a method to use Parylene to stabilize
these items so that generations would be able to see these items first hand.
Today these items can be touched, picked up, and shared by many. These items
would have been otherwise lost to ocean if not for SCS.
International Space Station
Neptec Design Group, Ltd. of Kanata, Ontario, Canada, is building the Space
Vision System (SVS) that will be used in the construction of the International
Space Station by NASA and the space agencies of 12 other countries.
The components of the Space Station will be carried into orbit
by a series of shuttle missions, and assembled over six year period.
The SVS uses special electronics, software and graphic displays
to give improved vision and thereby enhance control of the huge shuttle robot
arm. The system functions by tracking visual targets on items being handled,
using cameras on both the shuttle and the space station.
This tracking will give operators a precise, moving graphic image
of load position in three dimensions, and allow for more accurate control than
could be achieved using earlier robot arm controls. Before the SVS concept was
developed, astronauts had to rely on images from video cameras, and on limited
views through small spacecraft windows to guide them in controlling robot functions.
The new vision system will be used on each shuttle mission as the station is
assembled, allowing astronauts to precisely control the spacecraft's robotic
arm for docking, moving cargo, and assembling components.
The
Canadian electronics company is supplying NASA with vision systems for both
ground training of astronauts at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston,
Texas, and for use with the International Space Station.
Deep Space Propulsion Test
Parylene was used in a particularly exciting aerospace project with
Southwest Research - coating objects for Deep Space 1. This 770 lb. spacecraft
was launched in July of 1998 to demonstrate a variety of new technologies that
will support ambitious future orbital and deep space missions.
This NASA project includes an ion engine for propulsion in the vacuum of deep
space. It operates by expelling positively charged atoms generated from an inert
gas, and uses solar energy to create the reaction. The engine's collimator, a
device that aligns and controls ion flow, was coated with Parylene to protect
its surface before launch, during the rigors of departure from the earth's atmosphere,
and throughout the life of the mission. While an ion engine creates only about
90 millinewtons (20 thousandths of a pound) of thrust, this force creates slow
but constant acceleration in the vacuum of deep space, builds to very high speed
over a period of months, and operates far more efficiently than conventional chemical
propulsion. Less than 12-inches long, and requiring a fuel supply of only 145
lbs., an ion engine can be carried aloft by a relatively small, inexpensive launch
vehicle.
The Deep Space 1 ion engine was fired on September 18, 1999, and
will thrust almost continuously over the next three months as the NASA probe
approaches two comets for study. Deep Space 1 is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, California, for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington,
DC.
Holocaust Era Bibles
In late 1994, an unassuming package arrived at the SCS Coating Facility in Clear
Lake Wisconsin. This package contained six small, battered books, included a
prayer book and the first five books of the Biblical Old Testament known to
Jewish people as the Torah.
The history of these careworn volumes sets them apart, for they
survived the Nazi Holocaust. It seems that these volumes were saved through
the efforts of a Swiss physician living in Germany, a Dr. Rupp who was instrumental
in rescuing a number or Polish and German Jews during World War II.
The books were given to Dr. Rupp in Berlin by a Dr. Rosenblat;
after Dr. Rosenblat's escape from the Warsaw ghetto. They had been entrusted
to him, in turn, by a captive who requested that they be saved, treated with
reverence, and passed to a synagogue or other Jewish Institution.
It was too dangerous to take religious books out of Germany at
the time, so Dr. Rupp buried them before fleeing the city near the end of the
war. When the war ended, he returned to Berlin and dug up the books.
The years and the historic events had taken their toll on the
books. SCS was contacted to preserve the books by Yoram Curiel (An acquaintance
of Dr. Rupp's son). SCS devised a way to coat and preserve these books, and
stop the further disintegration. These books have since been donated to a Jewish
institution.
IRS Evidence Recovery
As one of the unique ways SCS is helping our criminal justice system, SCS
has been involved in various projects with the Internal Revenue Service on tax
fraud cases.
It seems that in some cases of tax fraud, important evidence and/or
tax records are burned beyond recognition. Parylene is used to reinforce the
burned records so that they can be examined and used for evidence.
In one particular example, the IRS forensic experts were having
problems reviewing charred evidence critical in a particular tax fraud case.
The writing on the paper was still distinguishable, however the ash segments
were curled and extremely brittle.
A light Parylene coating reinforced the ashes so that they could
be reassembled (like a puzzle) into a single document. The individual pieces
were put between glass, examined, and submitted as critical evidence in the
relevant court case.
JSTARS Surveillance System
Parylene conformal coating makes an important contribution to the performance
of the U.S. military's recently-developed Joint Tactical Information Distribution
System - known as JSTARS. This airborne radar system, used effectively during
the Gulf War and by peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, provides high resolution
images of moving ground targets. It gives commanders timely and accurate information
on mobile enemy forces operating within a very large area.
According to Jon Harris, the JSTARS Program Manager for Electromagnetic
Sciences, Inc., Norcross, Georgia, a critical JSTARS circuit board and microwave
antenna assembly is Parylene coated to protect it from the harsh airborne environment.
This microwave phase shifter subassembly is mounted on the exterior of JSTARS
surveillance aircraft, where it is exposed to mechanical shock as well as wide
variations in temperature and humidity.
Electromagnetic Sciences (ELMG) manufactures key components of
the JSTARS system. Harris explains that the company is a long-time user of Parylene.
"This is virtually the only coating that can do the job for the JSTARS microwave
phase shifter. It provides moisture resistance, pinhole-free coverage, and dielectric
protection - without adding significant mass or thermal forces. Parylene ideally
suits our protective coating requirements," he said.
The unique protective properties of Parylene are achieved in a
thin film layer, adding very little weight to the complex radar subassembly.
JSTARS microwave phase shifter assembly.
