Atomic-6 composite Space Armor shields space operation communications, spacecraft and astronauts

Space Armor tile. Source (All Images) | Atomic-6

Atomic-6 (Marietta, Ga., U.S.), a manufacturer of advanced mobility composites, introduces Space Armor tiles — a radio frequency-permeable, fragmentation-resistant orbital debris shield product for spacecraft and astronauts. Its ability to resist impact while enabling mission-critical radio communications makes it well suited for government and commercial satellites, protecting the future of human space activity and ensuring responsible space stewardship.

Satellites and astronauts are constantly threatened by millions of untrackable, hypervelocity particles in orbit, capable of traveling at velocities greater than 7 kilometers per second — nearly 16,000 miles per hour — and causing violent explosions on impact, which could penetrate fuel tanks, space suits, and tear apart batteries and structures. Traditional ballistic space “Whipple shields” that have existed since the 1950s have a metallic makeup, which is prohibitively heavy, blocks vital radio signals and, when impacted, can often create more debris than it stops.

Atomic-6 has demonstrated that its Space Armor tiles are both orbital debris shielding and RF-permeable, enabling hypervelocity impact protection for communications devices. “This is a big deal. We made the first radomes that can stop orbital debris,” says Trevor Smith, CEO of Atomic-6. “You don’t have to sacrifice communications to protect your spacecraft anymore. This little composite tile preserves mission-critical functions, thereby protecting spacecraft, space stations and people in orbit from increasingly prevalent, yet invisible threats.”

Demonstrated test against an aluminum shield.

Space Armor tiles, developed via the company’s proprietary manufacturing process, are lighter and thinner than traditional Whipple shields, easy to install and mitigates the creation of harmful debris. As demonstrated against aluminum, Space Armor tiles successfully stop a >7 kilometer/second projectile, producing virtually no byproducts. The aluminum equivalent shield, on the other hand, creates fragments larger than the initial projectile, and spalling debris behind the point of impact, which could damage the system it's meant to protect.

Atomic-6 has developed two scalable protection levels in either RF-permeable or RF-blocking configurations:

• Space Armor Lite: Withstands debris impacts up to 3 millimeters, which accounts for all untrackable debris and more than 90% of all low-Earth orbit (LEO) debris.
• Space Armor Max: Built for the most extreme conditions, it resists impacts up to 12.5 millimeters, rated for human space station protection.

Both variants minimize shielding mass, stowage volume, post-impact ejecta and overall mission risk.