WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has forked over $7.1 million to Martin Materials Solutions to ramp up U.S. production of space-qualified cover glass, the fancy term for the stuff that protects satellite solar cells from getting fried by radiation or pelted by micrometeorites. The investment, announced July 17 under the Defense Production Act, reveals the military's deep-seated fear that even the tiniest components - like, say, a pane of glass - could bring the whole spacecraft-building enterprise crashing down.

Martin Materials, one of the few U.S. companies that bothers making this specialty glass, will use the cash to scale up operations at its Twinsburg, Ohio facility. Because nothing says 'national security' like a glass factory in Ohio.

Solar-cell cover glass is basically the unsung hero of orbit: thin sheets of radiation-resistant material that sit on top of photovoltaic cells, blocking nasty radiation, filtering bad light, and generally keeping satellites from falling apart after years of doing donuts in space. The Pentagon is clearly worried about relying on a limited club of domestic and foreign sources for this stuff, hence the Title III of the Defense Production Act - the government's way of saying, 'We'll pay you to make more of that, thanks.'

Martin Materials also makes glass for thermal-control mirrors, which reflect heat and prevent satellite electronics from melting into puddles of despair. So, you know, important stuff.