EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

The space industry is rapidly changing. The so-called New Space companies are reducing launch and build costs and making space accessible to new markets. There are major changes in the spacecraft development philosophy with more emphasis on the use of commercial off the shelf parts and miniature satellites as well as advanced manufacturing (e.g. 3D printing). Scientific and exploration missions continue to stretch technological boundaries, with new missions to the Moon and Mars, sample return and robotic missions, as well as missions to study the solar system. This creates the need for spacecraft and instrumentation with increased reliability and long term durability.
The survival and performance of materials in the space environment will be a key technology pillar in enabling these new missions and adapting to the changing demands of New Space. With this in mind, a new European Technology Roadmap is being developed by ESA in conjunction with its industrial, academic and scientific partners, to map the technology needs over the next decade and beyond. This paper will summarise the key aspects of the roadmap, with the aim to promote discussion and invite feedback from the materials community. We will map the requirements for new materials survival technologies, taking into account the high level future mission needs. This will include in-flight technologies for spacecraft as well as ground based test facilities and in-orbit demonstration.
We will also provide highlights from some of ESA’s on-going technology developments related to materials in extreme environments. This will include for example materials characterisation for the lunar dust environment, the assessment of commercial off the shelf optical coatings for use in the space environment, self-healing materials and the development and testing of materials and advanced coating systems for high fluence atomic oxygen environments.