UCL's research travels to space

The resupply vehicle successfully launched on Sunday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with experiments for the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Cosmic Kiss mission. Among them, the project ‘Touching Surfaces’, a collaborative hardware of Aerospace Microbiology at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (BRSU), the Chair of Functional Materials at Saarland University, and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE) at UCL. 

Touching Surfaces consists of novel surfaces that will be exposed to the indoor environment of the ISS and tested for their antimicrobial and humidity response. Principal Investigator of Touching Surfaces is Aerospace Microbiology research group head Prof. Ralf Moeller. Part of this project are Nature-Inspired, Multi-Functional Surfaces (NIMFS) developed by UCL CNIE and Department of Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate Malica Schmidt, with support from Dr Barry Reid (CNIE Research Technician) and Prof. Marc-Olivier Coppens (Malica’s primary PhD thesis advisor). 

NIMFS were designed to absorb excess atmospheric moisture produced by astronauts’ indoors activities and transport it passively, thanks to their microstructured surface. This 3D nano-printed artificial surface is inspired by superior fundamental mechanisms found in tree capillaries and organisms such as moth eyes and cicada wings with the aim to improve sustainable life support applications in extreme environments. By undergoing this spaceflight, their longevity and performance can be assured to limit expensive resupply for future space missions, space habitats and advance healthy environments on Earth. 

The team is looking forward to the installation of Touching Surfaces by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet on 16th September 2021, and a successful mission. 

Links

• Malica Schmidt/NIMFS
• UCL Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering
• UCL
• Ralf Moeller
• DLR Aerospace Microbiology Research Group
• DLR
• DLR article
• ESA article

Images 

• Featured image: Fully Assembled Touching Surface Array. Credit: DLR.
• Second image: Credit: Malica Schmidt. 

More information on the SpaceX-23 Cargo Resupply

• SpaceX CRS-23 Mission Overview

SpaceX CRS-23 Launch

SpaceX CRS-23 Arrival