Exploring Relations of Extraterrestrial Life and New Materials

Self-repairing or re-configuring of Satellites with respect to flight conditions are the fruitful results of development and innovations in the field of Material Science.

A thought provoking post by Thierry Belmonte, director of the Jean Lamour Institute Entitled "Matters to think".

From the atom to the material, chemistry gives material (s) to think. Whether dealing with nano-medicines, mobile phones, hydrogen vehicles or the use of biomass, chemists are exploring new avenues taking into account environmental and societal issues. A smartphone can, thanks to the new materials it contains, serve as a phone, but also a camera or calculator for gamer, much more powerful than those embedded on lunar missions, generations of satellites to come will be able to benefit from new features. There are three strong trends in this area: self-parability, adaptability and multi-functionality.

A system is self-repairing when it has the ability to autonomously return to an initial, fault-free and fully operational situation. This is after a change of procedure but without external effect, additional material or energy dissipation at the damaged location.

Materials - Their Intelligence

Adaptability makes it possible to reconfigure a system to other operating regimes or to other environments using little time, energy and material. The Space Shuttle was the first vehicle to evolve in both the Earth's atmosphere and space. A few years ago, we also saw flying boats coming out of the water when conditions permit, moving from a conventional navigation mode to a lift mode that limits friction. 

View of the solar panels of the BepiColombo probe en route to Mercury (Credit: ESA / BepiColombo / MTM)

The ability of a complex system to perform multiple tasks based on different physical principles defines multifunctionality. This has the major advantage of dramatically decreasing the mass and energy consumption of spacecraft. For example, solar cells, which could also be used as solar sails while providing effective protection against radiation.

 These different functionalities require "dynamic" materials, that is to say, capable of modifying their surface and volume properties, either spontaneously or under the effect of an external stimulus that will be desired as low as possible. . If the self-parability of metals, also able to recover the memory of their original form, has already been demonstrated, we now know that it is possible to find this property in so-called "intelligent" materials based on graphene. This applies particularly in micro and nanoelectronics, as it is true that today embedded devices are an essential element of any space activity.

Reference: https://bit.ly/2HqOz2L