University of Bristol launches composite materials to space for ISS testing

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

Early on Nov. 5^th, a new generation of carbon fiber-reinforced composite space materials developed by scientists at the University of Bristol (U.K.) was launched to space via a Space X rocket. The rocket is headed to the International Space Station (ISS), where the materials will undergo testing in the extreme conditions of low Earth orbit to determine their ability to be used to build things like future space stations, spacecraft for interplanetary travel or a new ISS.

The composite materials will be placed on the Bartolomeo platform, located on the front of the ISS, where they will orbit Earth up to 9,000 times over the next 12-18 months at speeds of 17,000 miles per hour. They will need to survive temperatures between -150ºC and +120ºC, space debris traveling seven times faster than a bullet, severe electromagnetic radiation, and high vacuum and atomic oxygen, which erodes even the toughest materials.

“Space is the most challenging environment for which to design new materials,” explains Professor Ian Hamerton. He teaches in Polymers and Sustainable Composites department of the University of Bristol’s Bristol Composites Institute. “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 University of Bristol scientists on the ground improve fiber-reinforced materials for next-generation space missions.”

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

If the materials cope in the harsh environment, they could be used to create longer-lasting space components, enabling spacecraft to travel further, and spend more time in space.