Conference: Workshop on Materials for Space

由一个小型指导委员会（包括主席）组织并由一个专业讲习班和支助公司提供便利的虚拟讲习班聚集了来自材料科学、空间环境影响、航天器工程和使命规划界的50名专家。与会者将举行为期三周的六次半天会议，确定当前和未来对可在各种空间环境中发挥其功能的材料的需求，并确定投资可能对未来飞行任务产生最大影响的材料研究领域。虽然空间一直是一个关键的国家安全场所，但为经济目的利用和探索空间的迅速增长无疑将产生极其重要的政治和国际后果。因此，本次研讨会的一个关键目标-确定材料研究的变革领域，从而延长计划任务的运行或启用新任务-自然会影响整个社会，带来新的知识和经济效益。 这些好处需要在材料科学和工程（MSE）方面有才华和创新的劳动力，因此另一个关键目标是制定战略，吸引更大和更多样化的学生群体到MSE，并教育他们的职业生涯，他们的才能可以推动空间利用和探索的前沿。技术总结空间环境对航天器来说是不可原谅的严酷，它们几乎总是受到高能量充电，通常是中性粒子和短波长电磁辐射。此外，微流星体可能在某些环境中撞击航天器，某些使命剖面可能导致极端加热、热梯度或热循环。除了自然空间环境造成的危害外，人为或诱发的环境也造成进一步的危害，包括分子或微粒污染、电磁干扰、静电荷的积累和释放、推进器羽流撞击和碎片撞击。这些危险，无论是单独发生作用还是结合起来发生作用，都可能以无数种方式影响甚至损害航天器的运行，以不必要或意外的方式改变其材料的特性。该研讨会确定了基本的研究方向，可以大大提高设计，制造和使用创新的金属，陶瓷和复合材料和系统在航天器应用中的材料性能或功能的维护在恶劣或极端环境中是至关重要的。该讲习班还讨论了测试和鉴定用于航天器的新的和可能具有变革性的材料的独特挑战。在这方面，指导委员会和与会者正在考虑理论和计算，先进的合成方法，新兴的表征方法和创新的属性测量方法的日益相关的作用。正在对实验室和空间性质测量技术进行评价。限制空间新材料研究影响的教育和劳动力问题也正在得到解决。最后，讲习班正在审议研究功能性但耐用的材料在满足空间飞行任务国家安全优先事项方面可能发挥的作用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYA virtual workshop, organized by a small Steering Committee (including the Chair) and facilitated by a professional workshop and support company, gathers 50 experts from materials science, space environments effects, spacecraft engineering, and mission planning communities. Convening for six half-day periods spanning three weeks, participants are identifying current and future needs for materials that can perform their functions in various space environments and defining materials research areas where investment is likely to have the greatest impact on future missions. While space has always been a key national security venue, the rapid growth in the use and exploration of space for economic purposes will undoubtedly have immensely important political and international consequences. Thus, a key objective of this workshop – the identification of transformative areas of materials research leading to prolonged operation of planned missions or the enabling of new ones – will naturally impact the whole of society, bringing new knowledge and economic benefits. These benefits require a talented and innovative workforce in materials science and engineering (MSE), so another key objective is developing strategies to attract a larger and more diverse body of students to MSE and educate them for careers where their talents can push back the frontiers of space utilization and exploration.TECHNICAL SUMMARYSpace environments are unforgivingly harsh on spacecraft, which are almost always subjected to high energy charged, and often neutral, particles and short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation. In addition, micrometeoroids may strike spacecraft in certain environments, and some mission profiles may lead to extreme heating, thermal gradients, or thermal cycling. Besides the hazards caused by the natural space environment, man-made or induced environments create further hazards, including molecular or particulate contamination, electromagnetic interference, build-up and release of static charge, thruster plume impingement, and debris impacts. There are countless ways in which these hazards, acting either individually or in combination, may affect or even compromise the operation of a spacecraft by altering the properties of its materials in unwanted or unanticipated ways. This workshop is identifying fundamental research directions that could substantially enhance the design, fabrication, and use of innovative metallic, ceramic, and composite materials and systems in spacecraft applications where the maintenance of material properties or functions in harsh or extreme environments is of paramount importance. This workshop also addresses the unique challenges of testing and qualifying new and potentially transformative materials for use on spacecraft. In this context, the Steering Committee and participants are considering the increasingly relevant roles of theory and computation, advanced synthesis methods, emerging characterization approaches, and innovative property measurement approaches. Both laboratory and in-space property measurement techniques are being evaluated. Educational and workforce issues that limit the impact of research on new materials for space are also being addressed. Finally, the workshop is considering the possible role of research on functional, yet durable, materials in meeting national security priorities for space missions. A report is being produced containing the most relevant and salient workshop findings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.