Nanotechnology in Space

Maria Letizia Terranova, Emanuela Tamburri, Maria Letizia Terranova, Emanuela Tamburri

• Publisher: Jenny Stanford Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000294491
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias biológicas
• Subtopic: Biología

This book presents selected topics on nanotechnological applications in the strategic sector of space. It showcases some current activities and multidisciplinary approaches that have given an unprecedented control of matter at the nanoscale and will enable it to withstand the unique space environment. It focuses on the outstanding topic of dual-use nanotechnologies, illustrating the mutual benefits of key enabling materials that can be used successfully both on earth and in space. It highlights the importance of space as a strategic sector in the global economy, with ever-increasing related businesses worldwide. In this light, it dedicates a chapter to the analysis of current and future markets for space-related nanotechnological products and applications.

Chapter 1

Nanotechnology for Space Power Devices

Ryne P. Raffaelle

Physics Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA

[email protected]

The exploration of space has always been synonymous with the development of technology. This is most certainly the case for space power systems or the systems thathave been used to provide electrical power and even propulsion for the spacecraft. Since Vanguard 1 was launched on March 17, 1958 (the American satellite that was the fourth artificial Earth-orbiting satellite to be successfully launched following Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer, and the first spacecraft to utilize photovoltaic solar cells), space power needs have been the major driving force in the development of new and more efficient solar cells, batteries, and other components. These developments have been driven by the challenges and costs associated with space exploration that have put a premium on power devices. It is therefore no surprise that the developers of space power systems have embraced the nanotechnological revolution. In this chapter, we will explore some of the ways that nanotechnology is being used to develop new and better space power components.

1.1 Introduction

In 1974, Norio Taniguchi of Tokyo Science University used the term nanotechnology to describe semiconductor processes such as thin-film deposition that deal with control on the order of nanometers. His definition still stands today: Nanotechnology mainly consists of the processing of separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or one molecule [1].

Although this terminology could be considered somewhat new at the time, the concept most certainly was not. The idea of manipulating matter on the nanoscale had been around for some time. One could argue that it goes back to the origins of the development quantum mechanics and the many discoveries and breakthroughs associated with “modern physics” of the early 20th century. It can certainly be argued that when Richard Feynman threw down the gauntlet with his grand challenges outlined in his 1959: There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom—An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics, he was certainly planting the seeds for the later nanotechnological revolution [2].

The nanotechnological revolution was most certainly upon us by the turn of the 21st century. In some ways the United States set the pace for nanotechnology innovation worldwide with the activities that preceded it and ultimately with the advent of their National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in 2000 [3]. The NNI consists of the individual and cooperative nanotechnology-related activities of Federal agencies with a range of research and regulatory roles and responsibilities. Funding support for nanotechnology research and development or R&D stems directly from NNI member agencies. As an interagency effort, the NNI informs and influences the federal budget and planning processes through its member agencies and through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).

In 2016, the United States published its National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan [4]. This was an update of the previous plan released in 2014. This update was to satisfy the requirement set forth in the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003. This updated plan represented a consensus of the NNI member agencies on the high-level goals and priorities for NNI.

The plan provided the framework under which individual agencies would conduct their own mission-specific nanotechnology programs and how these programs would be shared between agencies. There are 29 different agencies that participate in the U. S. NNI. Example agencies include the Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and most importantly in view of this chapter the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In case one might think that the focus on nanotechnology has somewhat faded at this point, the 2020 federal budget provides more than $1.4 billion for the NNI, affirming the role that nanotechnology continues to play [5].

As nanotechnology efforts were spinning up at the turn of the 21st century, one of the primary drivers was that it offered the promise of developing multifunctional materials that would contribute to building and maintaining lighter, safer, smarter, and more efficient vehicles, aircraft, and spacecraft. Low-cost access to space was often used as one of the primary justifications for the investments that were being made in nanotechnology across the globe. It was argued that there would be “game changing” benefits from the use of nanotechnology-enabled lightweight, high-strength materials for the use in space. In the Technology Area (TA) 10: Nanotechnology, one of the 16 sections of the 2015 NASA Roadmap, it was indicated that the areas where nanotechnologies have the greatest potential to impact NASA mission needs included (a) engineered materials and structures, (b) power generation, energy storage, and power distribution, (c) propulsion and propellants, and (d) sensors, electronics, and devices [6]. In these applications, nanotechnologies were projected to replace state-of-the-art materials used in aerospace vehicle components, including primary and secondary structures, propulsion systems, power systems, avionics, propellant, payloads, instrumentation, and devices. It was proposed that these benefits could possibly reduce overall vehicle mass by up to 50 percent. Not only could this save a significant amount of energy needed to launch spacecraft into orbit, but it would also enable the development of single stage to orbit launch vehicles, further reducing launch costs, increasing mission reliability, and opening the door to alternative propulsion concepts. These types of improvement could make access to space much more affordable.

1.2 Engineered Materials and Structures

An area that has received considerable attention from the space-related research community is the use of nanomaterials to improve engineered materials and structures used for space power applications. The use of nanoscale or nanostructured materials to make things stronger, lighter, or more radiation tolerant would provide tremendous benefit to future spacecraft. There have been a wide variety of materials studied in this regard, but perhaps none more so than carbon nanotubes.

Carbon nanotubes are less a material unto themselves as they are a class of materials. Carbon nanotubes can come in an infinite variety of lengths, diameters, chiralities, purities, etc. and are rarely used as a single nanoscale tube. They are more often used in bulk form or in a composite material. In considering carbon nanotubes, one generally is referring to single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with diameters in the range of a nanometer. They were discovered independently by Iijima and Ichihashi [7] and Bethune et al. [8] in carbon arc chambers similar to those used to produce fullerenes. SWCNTs are just one of the allotropes of carbon that fall somewhere in between fullerene cages and flat graphene sheets [9].

An SWCNT can be thought of a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms rolled up along one of the Bravais lattice vectors of the hexagonal lattice to form a hollow cylinder [10]. The chirality of a particular tube is determined by which the lattice vector tube is “rolled-up” upon. This chirality will determine the optoelectronic properties of the tube which can range from metallic to semiconducting. Carbon nanotubes can also refer to multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) consisting of nested single-wall carbon nanotubes.

Intrinsically carbon nanotubes exhibit ballistic conduction and can support remarkably high current densities [11, 12]. They also have been shown to exhibit exceptional tensile strength [13] and good thermal conductivity [14, 15]. In addition, they can be chemically modified after they are synthesized to dramatically alter their basic properties [16]. The remarkable properties of carbon nanotubes make them a very desirable candidate for additives in a host of different composite materials used in space, such as lightweight, radiation shielding, high thermal conductivity matrices and coatings, and structural matrix systems [17, 18].

Figure 1.1 MISSE on the International Space Station (courtesy of NASA).

Carbon nanotube have been used in industrial epoxy to augment their electrical or thermal properties [19]. Since carbon nanotubes can have incredible aspect ratios of length (microns) to diameter (nanometers), they can reach a percolation threshold in composite epoxies at very low weight-percent doping and still have a dramatic effect on their thermal and electrical properties. In addition, the introduction of the nanotubes can also serve to improve the strength of the epoxy.

The Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-8) tested a variety of different carbon nanotube containing materials, including carbon nanotube yarn, on the surface of the International Space State, or ISS. As the ISS operates in low Earth orbit (LEO) environment, it offers a very important set of space conditions [i.e., vacuum, UV radiation, ionizing particle radiation in the form of high energy protons and electrons, thermal cycling with temperatures varying from -175 to +160°C, and atomic oxygen (AO)]. While all of these can induce chemical reactions in these orbits, its AO and UV radiation primarily cause the degradation seen in many organic materials. Although some changes were observed in the materials properties, the carbon nanotube yarns exhibited good resiliency in the 2.14 year long flight [20].

In 2017, NASA demonstrated that a carbon nanotube composite could be used for a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs), which are designed to hold fluid under pressure and are used in many capacities including propellant tanks [21]. A carbon nanotube wrapped COPV flew as part of the SubTec-7 mission using a 56-foot tall Black Brant IX rocket launched from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. NASA computer modelling analysis has shown that composites using carbon nanotube reinforcements could lead to a 30% reduction in the total mass of a launch vehicle compared to conventional carbon fiber epoxy composites [21].

Figure 1.2 A demonstration carbon nanotube Composite Overwrap Pressure Vessel (COPV) flight article is wound with carbon nanotube composites (courtesy of NASA).

1.3 Power Generation, Storage, and Distribution

In addition to the potential use as a structural material, carbon nanotubes are showing tremendous promise in improving other areas of the performance of space power systems. Examples include energy conversion devices such as solar cells [22], fuel cells [23], thermionic devices [24], for energy storage in batteries and capacitors [25], and even in the form of electrical wires for power management and distribution [26]. The control of the fundamental nature of carbon nanotubes used (i.e., diameter distributions, dispersion, purity, etc.) is key to optimizing the device performance in many of the aforementioned applications [27].

1.3.1 Carbon Nanotube Wires

Used in a wire format, carbon nanotubes are being considered for a variety of applications including power and data transmission applications in space [28–30]. Applications that exploit the superior flexure tolerance, tensile strength to weight, and corrosion re...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Trends in Space Nanotechnologies
• 1. Nanotechnology for Space Power Devices
• 2. Nanocomposite and Micro-Nanostructured Materials with Applications of MEMS/Nano Devices for Aerospace
• 3. Advanced Polymer Composites for Use on Earth and in Space
• 4. Printable Materials for Additive Manufacturing in Harsh Earth and Space Environments
• 5. Nano-Based Coating for Spacecraft: Antibacterial Film for Manned Application
• 6. Nanotechnology in Space Economy
• Index