Taking nanotechnology to new heights: The potential impact on future aerospace vehicles
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Introduction Mass, durability, and performance are three critical factors in the design of aerospace vehicles and missions. These factors can affect the operational efficiency of an aircraft or spacecraft, the safety of a vehicle or mission, and the success of a space exploration mission. Reductions in vehicle mass can have a broad impact on aircraft, spacecraft, and future space missions. For aircraft, reductions in vehicle mass translate into reduced fuel consumption and emissions and, in the case of supersonic aircraft, noise pollution. Reductions in vehicle mass can also lead to increased payload capacity. Current costs for launching satellites into orbit or bringing supplies to the International Space Station are in excess of USD$22,000 US/kg.1 Increases in the ability of a launch vehicle or spacecraft to carry more supplies, materials, or instrumentation will have a positive impact on the success and productivity of human and robotic space exploration missions. Durability is important because it impacts the safety of a spacecraft or aircraft. Failure of a critical component could sacrifice an aerospace mission and lead to loss of a spacecraft or aircraft and passengers or crew. Every hour that a commercial aircraft is grounded due to premature failure of a component or system costs an airline about USD$10,000.2 Concerns about the durability and reliability of vehicle structures can lead to overdesign, resulting in added and
potentially unnecessary vehicle mass (see the article by Siochi and Harrison in this issue). Improved vehicle and system performance can enable reductions in power and fuel consumption, as well as increased mission success and output. Multifunctional materials and structures, such as a load-bearing material that also provides radiation protection, not only can have an impact on improving vehicle performance, but can also lead to reduced vehicle mass by reducing or eliminating parasitic weight. Nanotechnology has the capacity to positively impact each of these factors by enabling the development of lighterweight materials with better strength, stiffness, and/or toughness than today’s materials, inherently radiation- and faulttolerant electronic devices that have lower power requirements than conventional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, and sensors for the detection of chemical and biological species that are more compact, require less power, and have better sensitivity than conventional sensor systems (see the article by Meyyappan et al. in this issue). This article highlights examples of nanoscale materials and devices that have been used in aerospace missions and discusses recent advances in nanotechnology research and development (R&D) that could be utilized in future aerospace vehicles and systems, as well as challenges to the broader application of nanotechnology in future vehicles and missions.
Michael A. Meador, National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, USA; [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/mrs.2015.224
© 2015 Materials Research Society
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