More than 400 material samples completed the extravehicular exposure experiment at the Chinese space station on March 14 and will return to the Earth for the ground-based research.
The experiment started on March 8, 2023.
The samples included non-metallic items like memory polymer materials, lunar soil reinforcement tools, solid lubricants, and gel composite lubricants, and metallic materials such as magnesium alloys and porous copper.
The related research is expected to contribute to space application of advanced materials such as those for large-scale space deployable structures like flexible solar panels, space mechanism lubrication, materials for lunar base construction, and neutron shielding materials for precision electronic devices.
Other substances such as those for passive radiation cooling, polyimide fiber, optical fiber, and optical film have been transported to the space station by the Tianzhou-7 cargo spacecraft. The extravehicular exposure experiment is scheduled to be carried out on them this May.
(Executive editor: Zhu Zeya)
