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Metals Manufactured In Space Could Increase Jet Engine Efficiency
Posted by Adrian Covert at 9:00 AM on May 13, 2008
The European Space Agency is looking into manufacturing intermetallic materials in zero gravity space to cut the weight of jet engines in half and increase fuel efficiency. Intermetallic materials are different than alloys in that they are combined at the molecular level, as opposed to merely melting down metals and creating a homogeneous mix. Scientists want to manufacture Titanium Aluminide up in space because on earth, the difference in the metals' weight prevents the allow from diffusing correctly. The ESA currently plans to go up to the International Space Station to conduct tests on the manufacturing process. [BBC via io9 via DViCE]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
TheDude06
Posted 11:22 AM 13/5/08
why not? theyve been manufacturing lead shot in "zero gravity" for a few hundred years now
TheDude06
whiteknight
Posted 11:15 AM 13/5/08
Interesting. I just wanna be the pilot that hustles the "intermetallic alloys" from here to microgravity. In fact you don't even have to pay me.
whiteknight
TheCapt
Posted 11:12 AM 13/5/08
Its all fun and games till the blob of molten metal comes floating around the place!
TheCapt
nosauten
Posted 10:42 AM 13/5/08
Well duh. Everyone knows fancy space metal is better.
nosauten
Voohoo
Posted 10:40 AM 13/5/08
Wanna see an optical illusion? Scroll up and down (hastily, but not with too much haste) where you see the plane's turbo-jet engine thing.
Voohoo
MastaFalse
Posted 12:05 PM 13/5/08
Oh man, ... Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, and Gundams, here we come. I, for one, cannot wait ... and I totally agree with hustling space metals around. Way cooler than driving on a road made of ice.
MastaFalse
keyser
Posted 11:51 AM 13/5/08
can i get this for my car?
keyser
Arvin Bautista
Posted 12:28 PM 13/5/08
And how much fuel will it cost to bring these metals up there to begin with? When are we gonna start harvesting from asteroids using solar powered robots?
Arvin Bautista
vanwirtp
Posted 1:02 PM 13/5/08
A pet peeve of mine, but things in space stay in orbit because of gravity. In the ISS orbit, gravity is 90+% of sea level. There is no zero gravity, but because everything falls at the same rate, there is a free-fall environment. Just tilting at windmills....
vanwirtp
Hello_Newman
Posted 1:37 PM 13/5/08
We already have this, it was a sample from a UFO watcher who got metal and it was tested and confirmed it was created in the vacuum of space in zero gravity. Of course that wasn't possible when he found it, but he has it and it's still not possible currently.
It's already been done, not by us, but by someone.
Hello_Newman
FinalValgas
Posted 4:28 PM 13/5/08
Make me a hunting knife out of space metal.
FinalValgas
fastmike
Posted 4:46 PM 13/5/08
I bet McDonalds get there first.........there goes the neighborhood
fastmike
jamesuschrist
Posted 5:35 PM 13/5/08
Orbiting the Earth is so totally not the solution...where the frig is our anti-gravity?
jamesuschrist
godzira
Posted 7:58 PM 13/5/08
Make me some kickin Nike hightops...i would be a star!
godzira
Barion
Posted 9:10 PM 13/5/08
@vanwirtp: Well, the proper term is microgravity...but zero gravity is just so ingrained in our culture.
Barion
flyboy
Posted 10:30 PM 13/5/08
well - they're gonna have their work cut out to beat this stuff...
[en.wikipedia.org]
flyboy
Brock
Posted 11:09 PM 13/5/08
It would be pretty cool if there was an actual business case for going into space other than tourism. Then we might actually get a sensible, long term space program.
Brock
Optimus-Prime
Posted 11:04 PM 13/5/08
@vanwirtp: Isn't gravity just a consequence of a curved space-time? It should technically exist everywhere you were to build this in some degree because anything with mass would concave the fabric of space-time and result in a gravitational attraction since objects will follow the geodesic?
Optimus-Prime
OG512
Posted 10:49 PM 13/5/08
can they make car engines in space?
how about space rims?
what happens when the metal scomes back to earth? will the mix no longer be homogeneous but homesexual?
@Voohoo:
nice illusion.
OG512
OG512
Posted 11:12 PM 13/5/08
@Optimus-Prime:
that's called a black hole.
OG512
Gann
Posted 12:36 AM 14/5/08
@OG512: No, that's everything. A black hole is only different in the magnitude of its concavity.
Gann
icegnome
Posted 3:00 AM 14/5/08
Come on... lets get real... lets just surgically implant wings and teach people to fly.
icegnome
whiteknight
Posted 8:48 AM 14/5/08
@icegnome: Heheheh!! Bring it on!
whiteknight