Materials set for rigours of space on International Space Station

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Carbon fibre reinforced composites have been sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to undergo testing in the challenging conditions of low Earth orbit.

Preparation of one of the Euro Material Ageing’s experiments for launch. The COMAT-designed SESAME module holds specimens selected and tested by ESA, supplied by 15 international research teams with Bristol University samples shown in the inset image
Preparation of one of the Euro Material Ageing’s experiments for launch. The COMAT-designed SESAME module holds specimens selected and tested by ESA, supplied by 15 international research teams with Bristol University samples shown in the inset image - Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales/Comat

Developed at Bristol University, these new generation space materials could be used to build future space stations, spacecraft, or a new ISS. 

They will be placed on the Bartolomeo platform, a payload hosting facility on the ISS, where they will orbit Earth up to 9,000 times over the next 12 to 18 months at speeds of 17,000mph. 

The carbon fibre reinforced composites will need to survive temperatures between -150ºC and +120ºC, space debris, electromagnetic radiation, high vacuum and atomic oxygen, which is highly reactive and energetic enough to break chemical bonds on the surface of several materials. 

In a statement, Ian Hamerton, Professor of Polymers and Sustainable Composites in Bristol University’s Bristol Composites Institute, said: “Space is the most challenging environment for which to design new materials. You’re pitting your materials expertise, skills and ingenuity against extremes of temperature, mechanical stress, radiation, high speed impacts and more. 

“Any one of those might be difficult, and, unfortunately, gaining access to repair them is not an easy option, so the materials we build must survive without maintenance.  

“The opportunity to test our materials in the proving ground of space is priceless and will help our…Bristol scientists on the ground improve fibre-reinforced materials for next-generation space missions.” 

MORE FROM MATERIALS

Four laboratory-made polymers are heading to the ISS, each of which has been reinforced with carbon fibres and two contain nanoparticles. They are the result of Bristol University research, and one is patented.

Future communities on new planets will need protection against galactic cosmic radiation. Dr Ali Kandemir, Senior Research Associate at Bristol University, is one of several Bristol researchers, supported by the UK Space Agency (UKSA), examining the effects of simulated galactic cosmic radiation on the materials, in a European Space Agency (ESA) project. 

Dr Kandemir said: “We want materials that are resilient in the space environment and, importantly, materials that can shield humans from that radiation. 

“We also want to make these materials sustainable, so that when they reach the end of their life they can be recycled and used again for the same purpose.” 

According to Bristol University, the launch of the Space X Dragon CRS-2 spacecraft this morning at 0229 GMT is the culmination of five years of work for Prof Hamerton and his team.

It has included the efforts of early career researchers, postgraduates and several aerospace engineering undergraduates at Bristol University, whose final year research projects have been linked to the space materials project.

The university added that practical support of the National Composites Centre (NCC) was crucial to the scale up of the composite materials. Prof Kate Robson Brown, Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact at University College Dublin, collaborated on the project.

Funding to support the project was supplied by the ESA, the UKSA, Oxford Space Systems and others. 

Carbon fibre reinforced composites