We’ve started experimenting with a new material, paper honeycomb panels. It’s light, very stiff, strong and cheap. We plan on using it as an alternative to foam for a core material in carbon structures. We also going to try it out for balloon interface panels for the next Dark Sky Station and Ascender.
As a first test it’s being used a the instrument deck on Away 46. That will give us a chance to see how it handles extreme cold and vacuum. The deck ended up the same weight as our existing carbon and foam deck. However it took only a fraction of the time to make and a quarter of the cost.
Very cool. Its always nice to find a better AND cheaper material. If it survives the flight conditions equally or better than the foam this should be a big step forward.
will be very exciting to see how this holds up to the cold and vacuum, what are your plans for strengthening it to be able to take hits from micrometeorites?
Niiice! I remember reading about a cardboard surfboard in PopSci, but for spacecraft is even more far out!