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The carbon nanotube/epoxy combination is being evaluated for the fabrication of mirrors on cubesats for planetary space exploration and Earth observations.

NASA’s Orion capsule employs an ablative material based on the same heat shield coating used for the Apollo missions.

The end-to-end space transportation company looks to its future launch, lunar and on-orbit services and capabilities.

CW’s monthly roundup of people news in the composites industry, including recent appointments at Gougeon Brothers, Scott Bader, Shape, KraussMaffei, Teijin Ltd. and the NASA Langley Research Center.

Following a similar order to Boeing in May, the two companies will begin preparations to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station in 2017.

The two companies are collaborating in response to a NASA solicitation seeking further exploration of the use of thin-ply High Strain Composites (HSCs) for space applications.

The agency is partnering with eight companies to accelerate the development of commercial capabilities to enable frequent launches of small spacecraft to low-Earth orbit.

Rocket Lab’s It’s Business Time mission will launch in November, with the ELaNa XIX mission for NASA to follow soon after in December.

The teams are still working on the design but the aircraft is expected to have a wingspan of about 3 feet and will be made of double ply, carbon fiber.

The Demo-1 flight test successfully launched SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, marking a first step toward the next NASA crewed space mission.