Tubes in space

NASA has awarded Rice University's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory a four-year, $11 million contract to produce a prototype power cable made entirely of carbon nanotubes.

The project aims to pioneer methods of producing pure nanotube power cables, known as quantum wires, which may conduct electricity up to 10 times better than copper and weigh about one-sixth as much.

The contract was awarded by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. It calls for an additional $4 million in related research at JSC, where researchers will conduct crucial work in the area of nanotube growth, and at NASA's Glenn Research Center, where nanotube composites will be developed for fuel cell components.

Rice's portion of the funding includes support for collaborative projects at Houston-based Carbon Nanotechnologies, which specializes in large-scale nanotube production, GHG Corporation, Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania.

“In the Space Shuttle, the primary power distribution system accounts for almost 7% of the craft's weight,” said Rice University's Professor Smalley, the lead researcher on the project.