Category: Space Materials

Advancing microreactor materials technology: Next stop, the Moon!

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ Leave a comment

Miniaturizing nuclear reactors offers a robust solution for generating reliable and efficient electricity, crucial for supporting human missions beyond Earth. Such miniturization is not at all an easy task. I have been pursuing research in this area since 2015, when we designed a ~ 3x3 metre-sized small nuclear reactor core for biological shielding optimization studies. … Continue reading Advancing microreactor materials technology: Next stop, the Moon!

Montanuniversität Leoben highlights its research in Space

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ Leave a comment

On 8th November 2023, the Montanuniversität Leoben hosted a special event to introduce its research and development strategy for Science in Space in collaboration with the European Space Agency. The new rector, Professor Peter Moser, stressed the necessity for new materials as humankind ventures further into space. Professor Moser also mentioned the extreme conditions of … Continue reading Montanuniversität Leoben highlights its research in Space

Our candidacy to the ESA’s Facility Definition Team on Materials Science

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We have submitted our candidacy to the European Space Agency to integrate the Facility Definition Team (FDT) of Materials Science. We aim at bringing to ESA our expertise in investigating metallurgy for space applications. Our focus is to design new lightweight metallic materials that are capable to resist the harsh environmental conditions often found in … Continue reading Our candidacy to the ESA’s Facility Definition Team on Materials Science

New H-based materials for use in micro-nuclear-reactors

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ Leave a comment

We just got a preprint available in arXiv.org for the general audience: "Fabrication of bulk delta-phase Zirconium Hydride from Zircaloy-4 for use as moderators in microreactors" (arXiv:2305.02249v1) In this manuscript, we performed a complete electron-microscopy characterization of the delta-phase Zirconium Hydride (delta-ZrH) currently under manufacturing, research and development to be used as moderator materials in … Continue reading New H-based materials for use in micro-nuclear-reactors

NewScientist highlights our work on Space Materials

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ 1 Comment

The British science magazine New Scientist -- a world-class prestigious publisher of scientific news communication -- is bringing a very interesting story coverage on our recent preprint "Radiation-resistant aluminium alloy for space missions in the extreme environment of the solar system". In their article entitled "Aluminium alloy could boost spacecraft radiation shielding 100-fold", Alex Wilkins … Continue reading NewScientist highlights our work on Space Materials

Nanocrystalline lightweight alloys for space exploration

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ Leave a comment

We continue in our saga aiming at finding better radiation-resistant materials for applications in the extreme environment of the solar system. I am delighted to introduce you our new paper that was led by Patrick Willenshofer (another genius from Montanuniversitaet Leoben). In this paper, we introduce a revolutionary nanocrystalline crossover aluminium alloy that scored the … Continue reading Nanocrystalline lightweight alloys for space exploration

The solar system as a new frontier for materials at extremes

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ Leave a comment

Sharing my new seminar slides with the community on the challenges to design and evaluate new materials for extraterrestrial applications! This research has been only possible via an international collaboration with the brilliant metallurgy minds present at the Montanuniversität Leoben! Super interesting new works coming very very soon! Available at the ResearchGate! (LA-UR-22-23107) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359771021_The_solar_system_as_a_new_frontier_for_materials_at_extremes