The Idea Factory: The satellite that repairs itself
Aerospace engineers from Montreal are working on developing resilient new materials for futuristic spacecraft
There are more than 100,000 pieces of space debris orbiting Earth. The threat they pose to spacecraft has inspired researchers to focus on developing resilient new space materials capable of self-repair. Aerospace engineers at Concordia University want to build an experimental satellite from a self-healing chemical composite. The satellite will be "constructed out of carbon fiber (to reinforce it) and an epoxy resin (for its matrix)," said Elizabeth Howell at UniverseToday. Whenever its structure is cracked or dinged, a "healing agent" stored in microcapsules will chemically repair the damage.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Christmas quiz 2024
From the magazine Test your grasp of current affairs and general knowledge with our quiz
By The Week UK Published
-
People of the year 2024
In the Spotlight Remember the people who hit the headlines this year?
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: December 25, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Detailed map of fly's brain holds clues to human mind
Speed Read This remarkable fruit fly brain analysis will aid in future human brain research
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipse
Speed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
An amphibian that produces milk?
speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published