Engineering’s Hatsuo Ishida shares paper on findings related to developing materials to protect astronauts during deep space travel
In collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Hatsuo Ishida, PhD, the Peter A. Asseff PhD Professor in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, shared research findings related to developing materials to protect astronauts from ultra-high energy galactic cosmic rays and other adverse environments during deep space travel.
In this study, Ishida and NASA developed a class of polymers, known as polybenzoxazine, which was subsequently commercialized. Their material was later sent to the International Space Station as part of Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-12) and was exposed to:
- Direct sunlight;
- High vacuum;
- Thermal cycling;
- Atomic oxygen;
- X- , high-intensity UV and gamma-rays; and
- High energy particles, which included ultra-high galactic cosmic rays and others for more than eight months.
Recently, Ishida and the research team analyzed the exposed composite material, which was recovered from the space station and showed a sign of very minute structural range only at the top skin. Their findings, which were published in Advanced Composite & Hybrid Materials, also demonstrated that the strength of the material per density was much stronger than metals and provided potential to be used for the construction of space stations and moon and Mars living quarters.
