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<p>The TESIS (TESting In Space ) experiment is a material science experiment carried out under microgravity during the Galactic 01 mission of the SpaceShipTwo Unity of Virgin Galactic on 29 June 2023. TESIS aimed to open suborbital flights to the approach of incremental research for the development of a new technology for medical applications. It consisted of 4 syringes, stored in the pockets of the astronauts and activated during the microgravity stage. The experiment was fully passive apart from the reaction of a small amount of liquid, separated into part A and part B of a polyurethane resin. Each syringe contained a foaming chamber and was confined into a vacuum-packed bag, tethered to the spacesuit of the astronauts. By pressing the syringe plunger, the resin parts entered in contact and started to foam. Fillers with different density (boron nitride and samarium cobalt) were added to the resin parts to produce composite foams during reaction. After sample recovery, the foaming chambers were extracted for non-destructive evaluation with radiological techniques. A comparison was made with on-ground foamed sample. Results show that the absence of gravity allows good mixing of the different fillers during the polyurethane foaming process. For the first time, composite foams have been produced in space using suborbital flight, and final achievements are very promising in the optic of in-space manufacturing of complex mixtures.</p>

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Foaming unique composite cellular structures under microgravity by suborbital flight

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月14日

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  • Fabrizio Quadrini,
  • Loredana Santo,
  • Guglielmo Manenti,
  • Andrea Micillo,
  • Walter Villadei

摘要

The TESIS (TESting In Space ) experiment is a material science experiment carried out under microgravity during the Galactic 01 mission of the SpaceShipTwo Unity of Virgin Galactic on 29 June 2023. TESIS aimed to open suborbital flights to the approach of incremental research for the development of a new technology for medical applications. It consisted of 4 syringes, stored in the pockets of the astronauts and activated during the microgravity stage. The experiment was fully passive apart from the reaction of a small amount of liquid, separated into part A and part B of a polyurethane resin. Each syringe contained a foaming chamber and was confined into a vacuum-packed bag, tethered to the spacesuit of the astronauts. By pressing the syringe plunger, the resin parts entered in contact and started to foam. Fillers with different density (boron nitride and samarium cobalt) were added to the resin parts to produce composite foams during reaction. After sample recovery, the foaming chambers were extracted for non-destructive evaluation with radiological techniques. A comparison was made with on-ground foamed sample. Results show that the absence of gravity allows good mixing of the different fillers during the polyurethane foaming process. For the first time, composite foams have been produced in space using suborbital flight, and final achievements are very promising in the optic of in-space manufacturing of complex mixtures.