High Performance Materials Applications to Moon/Mars Missions and Bases
Publication: Space 98
Abstract
Two classes of material processing scenarios will feature prominently in future interplanetary exploration: in situ production using locally available materials in lunar or planetary landings and high performance structural materials which carve out a set of properties for uniquely hostile space environments. To be competitive, high performance materials must typically offer orders of magnitude improvements in thermal conductivity or insulation, deliver high strength-to-weight ratios, or provide superior durability (low corrosion and/or ablative character, e.g., in heat shields). The space-related environmental parameters of high radiation flux, low weight, and superior reliability limits many typical aerospace materials to a short list comprising high performance alloys, nanocomposites and thin-layer metal laminates (Al-Cu, Al-Ag) with typical dimensions less than the Frank-Reed-type (e.g., packing flaws or ‘weak' points crystallographically) dislocation source. Extremely light weight carbon-carbon composites and carbon aerogels will be presented as novel examples which define broadened material parameters, particularly owing to their extreme thermal insulation (R-32-64) and low densities (<0.01 g/cm3) approaching that of air itself. Even with these low-weight payload additions, rocket thrust limits and transport costs will always place a premium on assembling as much structural and life support resources upon interplanetary, lunar, or asteroid arrival. As an example, for in situ lunar glass manufacture, solar furnaces reaching 1700° C for pure silica glass manufacture in situ are compared with sol-gel technology and acid-leached ultrapure (< 0.1% FeO) silica aerogel precursors.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 1998 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Aerospace engineering
- Base course
- Composite materials
- Construction materials
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Field tests
- Infrastructure
- Lunar materials
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Materials processing
- Pavements
- Space colonies
- Tests (by type)
- Transportation engineering
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.