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Juliana Cherston, Ph.D., an emerging technology consultant at the MIT Media Lab, led an Emerging Technologies Conference session about the development and launch of the first electronic textile sensor in space. She also discussed how to create academic partnerships to further textile research and development—and how to secure funding for these projects.
There are an increasing number of orbital object threats, including dust in low earth orbit, which can be manmade materials such as paint flecks, solid rocket dust and aluminum, or natural materials such as iron/silicate micrometeoroids from interplanetary streams and asteroid/comet collisions.
In 2016, the number of orbital object threats totaled 18,000, and in 2022 this number increased to 25,500 and will only continue to rise. As a result, the space industry is looking to the textile industry for solutions, specifically smart fabrics that can detect damage.
For example, Cherston spoke about the Beta cloth that acts as a protective layer for the International Space Station (ISS). The Beta cloth is ideal for its function because it remains strong and durable in the extreme environments and among the obstacles found in space. The cloth can withstand UV exposure and radiation without degrading, and it remains sturdy through micrometeoroid impacts, such as punctures or erosion.
Supported by Japanese company SpaceBD, JAXA, and the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, Cherston and her team sent a sample holder with a “quilt” of fabric swatches to the ISS in October 2020, where it completed around 7,000 orbital cycles around the earth before returning to MIT in February 2022. The quilted fabric samples formed the top layer; underneath was a multi-layer insulation, then an aluminum radiation shielding plate, with passive electronics on the bottom.
The controls and test swatches were layered as follows:
- Control 1: Kapton film
- Material 2: beta yarn + liberator conductive yarn weave
- Control 2: Teflon-impregnated beta cloth simulant
- Control 3: NASA Beta cloth
- Piezoelectric sensor variant
- Material 4: (speculative) conductive fur topology
- Material 1: Teflon-coated Beta cloth simulant + 3X piezo fiber
- Material 3: Beta +2x thermally drawn piezoelectric fiber
After 14.5 months of spaceflight, the sample holder returned to MIT where the researchers found that the fibers and fabrics were not damaged and maintained their functionality. They then began looking into how to increase charge sensitivity and found that gold-coated beta cloth may be the best option as gold produces 1-3 orders of magnitude charge more in impact plasmas compared to other common targets.
Currently, Cherston and her team are seeking a patent for the project. She says projects like these can be funded by various grants from government and industry sources, industry resources can then be purchased by the academic laboratory, and both parties can benefit from a partnership outside of traditional public-private partnerships. She also suggests exploring grant opportunities from the ISS National Lab and NASA TRISH.
She also shared examples of future in-space textile applications, including textile telescopes, robotic asteroid infrastructure and haptics on spacesuits.
Megan Phillips is an associate editor with the Advanced Textiles Association. She can be reached at megan.phillips@textiles.org.