What should we build our spacecraft out of? At first this might seem like an easy question, but there's a lot to consider. The materials we pick must be durable yet lightweight. They need to control heat so the craft doesn't get too hot or too cold. They need to be flexible, yet hold together.

This is tough for any one material to meet, which is why NASA scientists are designing their own. A team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have designed a type of futuristic chainmail built for space travel that could be used on the ISS or on Mars.

Traditional chainmail is forged from thousands of tiny links of metal forged by hand. NASA's new chainmail, by contrast, takes advantage of new developments in 3D printing to quickly create large sheets of the material.

NASA's chainmail was designed specifically with space travel in mind. It's foldable and flexible so it can take many different shapes, but it's still durable enough to survive in space. One side reflects sunlight while the other side absorbs it.

This range of attributes means that this new material could be used in all sorts of ways. The flexibility of the chainmail means it could be used in antennae and other deployable structures. The durability could find a use as shielding from debris. The reflective properties could be used for temperature regulation and insulation.

The versatility of this new material is great, but it mainly underscores the growing importance of 3D printing and other additive manufacturing technologies. 3D printing opens many new doors and enables brand new construction materials that can be designed to fill highly specific roles. Chances are, most of the materials used on spacecraft will be 3D printed in the future.

Source: NASA via Gizmodo

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