Materials set for rigours of space on International Space Station

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.