NASA's Langley Research Center is leading a project to turn carbon nanotube-reinforced composites into practical spacecraft structures, part of an effort to reduce weight and improve mission efficiency for future deep-space exploration. The Superlightweight Aerospace Composites, or SAC, project is focused on scaling high-strength carbon nanotube yarn for use in components now made from metals and conventional composites.
A bet on carbon nanotube yarn
Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical structures of carbon atoms with a diameter less than one-80,000th that of a human hair. At that scale, the material offers unusually high strength and low mass: about 100 times the strength of steel at roughly one-eighth the weight, according to the project's description.
The SAC project is working to process those nanotubes into high-strength, lightweight carbon yarn intended to replace aluminum, titanium and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, or CFRP, in spacecraft structures.
Projected mass savings
Engineering assessments point to substantial weight reductions when carbon nanotube yarn replaces established aerospace materials.
| Material replaced | Estimated mass savings |
|---|---|
| Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) | About 25% |
| Aluminum alloy | Up to 50% |
Applications and manufacturing progress
The project is not limited to materials research. It also seeks to establish large-scale manufacturing of high-strength yarn for actual spacecraft components. Principal applications include:
- Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP): composite fuel tanks for cryogenic hydrogen storage.
- Deep-space crewed spacecraft: key structural elements for lunar and Mars missions.
- General structural components: trusses and habitat shells, among other uses.
The SAC team is collaborating with Nanocomp Technologies Inc. of Merrimack, New Hampshire, to refine manufacturing processes, expand production capacity and lower costs. The project has entered a critical phase in which composite coupons are being fabricated to validate the manufacturing approach before potential use in NASA missions and commercial space applications.
Validation for future missions
The current work is centered on demonstrating that the yarn and composite manufacturing methods can meet the requirements of spacecraft structures. That validation step is intended to bridge laboratory performance with the production needs of future missions.