Foster-Miller developed a new, in-line passive damper for use in precision space structures such as telescopes and NASA's Space Interferometry Mission. The damper uses spherical contacts loaded in shear to dissipate energy through friction. The damper is compact, about 400 cc, and has demonstrated passive damping as high as 20 percent (40 percent loss factor), over frequencies up to 400 Hz. It can be used to cryogenic temperatures and is made from materials that are easily qualified for use in space.  It can be integrated into any space-based or terrestrial instrument that requires damping of motion on the micrometer to nanometer scale. Current applications include aerospace optical instruments, microchip manufacturing equipment, medical scanning devices and electron microscopes.

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