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Fly To Mars In A Plastic Ship

Posted by Zonk on from the wouldn't-go-any-other-way dept.

saskboy writes "NASA reports that an old polymer may be the spaceship material of the future. Polyethylene is in household garbage bags, and it is also an effective solar radiation shield. I learned three years ago in astronomy class that polyethylene is used in the sleeping quarters on current orbiting space vehicles, but now NASA has developed a way to toughen the polymer into a product they call RXF1 which is 'even stronger and lighter than aluminum'. As you may know, radiation in space is currently a major obstacle to manned missions outside of the Earth's magnetic field, so better radiation shielding is essential to planned manned missions to Mars and beyond. Get the mp3 podcast of the article here."

5 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Plastic aluminum? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    but now NASA has developed a way to toughen the polymer into a product they call RXF1 which is 'even stronger and lighter than aluminum'.

    Is it transparent?? Plastic usually is/can be. Perhaps this is what they really meant by transparent aluminum. We should really make sure none of this time's whales have been recently stolen!

    Why, no I didn't read tfa.

  2. I want to say one word to you. Just one word. by Mr.G5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Plastics.

  3. ...and when the mission is over by tinrobot · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can toss your spaceship in the blue bin for curbside recycling!

  4. a new fashion by igny · · Score: 5, Funny

    NASA has developed a way to toughen the polymer into a product they call RXF1 which is 'even stronger and lighter than aluminum'.

    Yeah, and polyester hats should be much more fashionable than the tin foil ones.

    --
    In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
  5. Re:Nature's way... by khallow · · Score: 5, Informative
    I don't think so. Metals still have a series of characteristics that aren't matched by plastics and advanced fibres. For example, steel is much harder than plastics (or the resin portion of carbon fibre), chemically compatible with concrete (another unfashionable material that isn't going away), handles compression loads well, easy to work with and machine, cheaper (IMHO), and recyclable. Things that handle significant localized forces like most screws or nuts, probably will remain metal. Weight critical applications (cars and spacecraft) will probably eliminate most uses of metals.

    But most architecture just isn't that sensitive to weight. For example, steel frame houses have significant earthquake resistance and are just more durable overall. Most bridges cover modest spans and can continue to be steel and concrete. Further one has to consider the problem of wind force. If your structure is very light for its surface area, then it'll experience increased jostling due to wind. Then you need to engineer some sort of means for stabalizing the structure, maybe guy ropes or some sort of internal computer-controlled weight that counters these motions.