Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by paulsutter 3723 days ago
I asked Dr Rabiei that very question by email yesterday, and she is working on it:

"Let me start by saying that it is not a crazy idea and is actually what I have been working on recently. I even have a proposal in DARPA on testing the performance of the material at supersonic speeds. At this time, our data covers up to a speed close to 1Km/s as you mentioned. We have not tested the performance at higher speed and that is what I was hoping to conduct soon."

(I asked if it could be used for space debris at 8-15km/s, and apologized for asking a crazy question)

1 comments

That would be outstanding if it could ... talk about the perfect material for shielding supercritical spacecraft components. Radiation resistance, projectile resistance, lighter than normal metal, temperature resistant... What's not to like?
You still need to make it fit, and this shielding may require more volume and more mass than a Whipple shield.
I was thinking of a small amount to protect supercritical components; navigation computers, comms, life support (if applicable); not necessarily the entire spacecraft.