Aerospace - Page 5

Peter J Sarre, Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham in the UK, has released a fascinating work that infers, based on previously unassigned optical and infrared astronomical observations and comparison with laboratory data on graphene oxide (GO), that GO is a significant component of interstellar dust.

Dust particles play a major role in the formation, evolution and chemistry of interstellar clouds, stars, and planetary systems. Commonly identified forms include amorphous and crystalline carbon-rich particles and silicates. Also present in many astrophysical environments are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), detected through their infrared emission, and which are essentially small flakes of graphene.

Rice University team under chemist James Tour has transformed their laser-induced graphene (LIG) into self-sterilizing filters that grab pathogens out of the air and kill them with small pulses of electricity. This may be of special interest to hospitals, where according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, patients have a 1-in-31 chance of acquiring a potentially antibiotic-resistant infection during hospitalization.

The device reportedly captures bacteria, fungi, spores, prions, endotoxins and other biological contaminants carried by droplets, aerosols and particulate matter.

Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) and pressure vessel manufacturer Infinite Composites Technologies have collaborated to develop a composite material for space exploration.

The partnership saw the use of AGM’s graphene technology in two resin systems for cryogenic pressure tanks. These vessels are currently being explored by Nasa for use in several spaceflight missions, as well as International Space Station Experiments (MISSE), Artemis and Lunar Gateway programmes.

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology have demonstrated a graphene-based detector with the potential to revolutionize the sensors used in next-generation space telescopes. Beyond superconductors, there are few materials that can meet the requirements for making ultra-sensitive and fast terahertz (THz) detectors for astronomy. Chalmers researchers have shown that engineered graphene adds a new material paradigm for THz heterodyne detection.

"Graphene might be the only known material that remains an excellent conductor of electricity/heat even when having, effectively, no electrons. We have reached a near zero-electron scenario in graphene, also called Dirac point, by assembling electron-accepting molecules on its surface. Our results show that graphene is an exceptionally good material for THz heterodyne detection when doped to the Dirac point," says Samuel Lara-Avila, assistant professor at the Quantum Device Physics Laboratory and lead author of the paper.

Applied Graphene Materials recently added new adhesive materials to their portfolio, aimed at the Space and Defense sectors. These are said to be two unique graphene-enhanced thermally conductive epoxy paste adhesive systems, called AGM TP300 and AGM TP400

These novel epoxy adhesive systems reportedly exhibit high levels of thermal conductivity (between 3 and 6 W/mK), combined with excellent mechanical, adhesive and outgassing performance. Most significantly these properties are achieved with cured resin densities as low as 40% that of competitive conductive adhesives on the market. AGM’s TP 300/400 products are therefore highly versatile, while providing end users with significant savings in both mass and cost.

Haydale has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA), which is seeking to develop non-metallic gas tanks for spacecraft propulsion systems in a technology de-risking project.

The demand for small satellite launches has created a challenge within the existing space propulsion supply chain for low-cost reliable components. With the constellation market set to increase rapidly, the development of components that meet these criteria is critical. Haydale's non-metallic system reportedly offers a low-cost alternative with reduced lead time that can be offered in a wider range of configurations to exactly suit the end user requirement.

Graphene Flagship partners, Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Pisa and the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), recently launched The Materials Science Experiment Rocket (MASER) into space. The objective is to test the printing of graphene patterns on silicon substrates in zero gravity conditions.

The experiment aims to test the possibilities of printing graphene inks in space. Studying the different self-assembly modes of graphene into functional patterns in zero-gravity will enable the fabrication of graphene electronic devices during long-term space missions, as well as help understand fundamental properties of graphene printing on Earth. This mission is also a first step towards the investigation of graphene for radiation shielding purposes, an essential requirement of manned space exploration.

Researchers at Purdue University’s Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories are developing a new propellant formulation method that will use graphene foams to power spacecraft. The research is reportedly showing success at increasing burn rate of solid propellants that are used to fuel rockets and spacecraft.

Our propulsion and physics researchers came together to focus on a material that has not previously been used in rocket propulsion, and it is demonstrating strong results, said Li Qiao, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics in Purdue’s College of Engineering.

New equipment developed in Brazil - the Solar-T - will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to measure solar flares. It is estimated that the Sun-THz, the name given to the new photometric telescope, will be launched in 2022 on one of the missions to the ISS and will remain there to take consistent measurements. The telescope contains graphene sensors that are highly sensitive to terahertz frequencies, able to detect polarization and be adjusted electronically.

The Sun THz is an enhanced version of the Solar-T, a double photometric telescope that was launched in 2016 by NASA in Antarctica in a stratospheric balloon that flew 12 days at an altitude of 40,000 m. The Solar-T captured the energy emitted by solar flares at two unprecedented frequencies: from 3 to 7 terahertz (THz) that correspond to a segment of far infrared radiation. The Solar-T was designed and built in Brazil by researchers at CRAAM together with colleagues at the Center for Semiconductor Components at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). The new equipment will be the product of a partnership with the Lebedev Physics Institute in Russia.

Rice University and Iran University of Science and Technology researchers have found a unique ceramic material that could act as a sensor for structures.

The ceramic becomes more electrically conductive under elastic strain and less conductive under plastic strain, and could lead to a new generation of sensors embedded into structures like buildings, bridges and aircraft able to monitor their own health.