Conducting, Inert, and Non-hazardous thermo-optical White COATings (COIN-COAT)

Thermo-optical coatings are used to control and to protect sensitive surfaces of satellites and spacecrafts. The paints are mostly either black (high alpha) and conducting or they are white (low alpha) and non-conducting. Most paint also do not originate from Europe. COIN COAT is an acronym for COnducting Inert Non-hazardous COATings and wants to overcome the statement that a conducting paint needs to be black. The project was funded by Discovery and dealt with the development of a white thermo-optical coating with the goal to achieve a coating with an alpha < 0.3 with electrically-conducting properties an several advantages.