Home > News > Nanotechnology can launch a new age of space exploration
April 17th, 2012
Nanotechnology can launch a new age of space exploration
Abstract:
Launching equipment into space is an expensive business: it costs $10,000 (£6,300) to lift every 0.45kg (1lb) of stuff into orbit. Making things smaller and lighter is, therefore, a natural route to reducing the cost of launching a spacecraft. It is no surprise then that the principles of nanotechnology - and the potential to reduce the mass and size of spacecraft and payloads - are focusing the minds of space engineers.
"When nanotechnology is really developed, even countries that don't presently think about space will be able to afford space exploration," says Meyya Mayyappan, chief scientist for exploration technology at Nasa's Centre for Nanotechnology, California.
Source:
guardian.co.uk
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