NASA Funds Development of New Structures for Space Travel

06/04/2015

Contacts:  Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

LOWELL, Mass. – NASA has awarded a UMass Lowell researcher more than $500,000 to design and fabricate lightweight materials that can be used to build a variety of structures for space travel.

Lowell resident Christopher Hansen, a professor in UMass Lowell’s College of Engineering, is one of seven young researchers nationwide to receive a NASA Early Career Faculty Space Technology Research Grant to develop innovations to support the U.S. space program, government and the commercial airline industry.

“NASA faces a number of technical challenges as we look to explore beyond low-Earth orbit,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. “U.S. universities possess the innovation and creativity for solving the problems we will face as we set our sights on the human exploration of an asteroid and eventually Mars.”

Hansen’s research involves designing, testing and producing fiber-reinforced composite materials to create interlocking structures that can be assembled and disassembled – like sophisticated versions of Legos or Tinkertoys – to create crew and laboratory modules, external trusses, solar panels, antennas and other architectural elements needed to build space stations. The materials include carbon and boron, which are far lighter and less expensive to send into space than aluminum or steel.

“One reason NASA is interested in funding research to develop very strong yet lightweight alternative construction materials is because a kilogram of these materials – or any other supplies – can cost up to $10,000 to fly into space due to the fuel requirements of the launch systems. So, the more cost effective this process can be, the better,” Hansen said. “Carbon fibers are light and are excellent in handling tension load but not compression. Boron fibers are slightly heavier and more expensive but perform better in compression. Our choice of material will depend on the load applied to the structure.”

In his research, Hansen will use cutting-edge plastics-molding processes and three-dimensional printing to make composite materials to fashion into struts and plates that can be assembled into a variety of panels and geometric shapes. He’ll then determine how many of each of these components will be needed to build various spacecraft structures.

Hansen’s goal is to build everything so that it can be taken apart and the pieces recycled to make new structures.

“If you can harvest even half of the materials already in orbit and reuse them to form a new structure, that would be very helpful in terms of time, energy and cost,” he said.

NASA’s grant, which totals $579,000, is funding Hansen’s research at UMass Lowell over the next three years to advance the development of technologies that support space exploration.

Hansen’s work is an example of how UMass Lowell – since its earliest days educating managers for the city’s textile mills during the Industrial Revolution – has advanced cutting-edge research and technology that enhance the quality of life. To learn more about how the university is rising in research, visit www.uml.edu/Rising/.
  
UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 17,000 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. www.uml.edu