Neues, von der Natur inspiriertes, flexibles „Metamaterial“ könnte uns dabei helfen, formverändernde Weltraumlebensräume und Teleskope zu bauen

In living things, structures are built from simple, repeatable patterns. These often come in the form of a disorganized lattice. Despite this apparent disorganization, the resulting structures can acquire a variety of shapes and have surprising strengths, versatility, and properties that the underlying lattice unit doesn’t possess.

Engineers seek to repeat this flexibility with human-designed metamaterials, which are structures that can change their shape or properties through the application of an external force, like an electric field or compression. These metamaterials are especially interesting for applications in space. We would love to launch a payload of simple materials and then have them assemble themselves in space. This would avoid the challenges of testing and launch-proofing large, complex structures, and give us the flexibility to change those structures if needed.

One promising kind of metamaterial is known as a totimorphic lattice. In a recent paper, scientists with the European Space Agency’s Advanced Concepts Team developed a computer simulation of totimorphic lattices and figured out how to optimize the transformation of one shape into another. They showcased their new technique with two examples: a simple habitat structure that could change its shape and stiffness, and a flexible space telescope.