# Presentation: 657813

## Planes, Trains and Automobiles

- <date/time>

**A widely used process for cutting tip manufacturing is liquid phase sintering.  Compared  to Earth-sintered samples which slump due to  buoyancy induced by gravity, space samples are uniform-ly shaped and defects remain where they are formed. By studying metals sintered in space the US tool industry can potentially enhance its worldwide competitiveness. **

***Planes, Trains and Automobiles***

**Earth**

**Space**

**The Consortium for Materials Development in Space along with Wyle Labs, Teledyne Advanced Materials, and McDonnell Douglas have conducted experiments in space.**

**Industry spends billions of dollars each year on machine **
**tools to manufacture products out of metal. This includes tools for **
**cutting every kind of metal part from engine blocks to Shuttle **
**main engine components.**

**materials as they solidify. After **
**the return of these materials**
**from space, researchers can evaluate**
**the source of the defect  and **
**seek ways to  eliminate them in**
**products prepared on Earth.**

**Cutting tool tips often break  because **
**of weak spots or defects in their **
**composition. Based on a new concept **
**called  “defect trapping,”  space **
**offers a novel environment  to study **
**defect formation in molten metal **

***..when cutting tools break, costs are added  to the final product***

## Cracking the Petroleum Industry from Space...

- <date/time>

**Since 1960, cracking catalysts have saved the oil equivalent of 60% of Alaska’a north slope.  A *****1% increase  *****in gas yield per barrel equals a *****$400  million addition  to *****the US balance of payments.”                **
**                                                                ****National Research Council, 1992**

**        ****Earth                 Space**

**Petroleum refining Chemical Catalysts        $90 Billion**
**Integrated Circuit Revenues (1993)           $17 Billion**
**Hoover Industry Profiles, 1993**

**Space yields:**
*** 1st perfect zeolite with Si/Al ratio at theoretical limit**
*** 175% larger**

**Improved control over zeolite structure and composition makes   *****space processing a powerful tool to increase petroleum  yield .***

**S P A C E**

**CRYSTALLINE**

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**Zeolites are a class of crystalline materials that  are used in **
**petroleum refinement.  Every gallon of gasoline is made using zeolite crystals.**

***Cracking the Petroleum Industry from Space...***

## In the Wake of Technology from Space

***...come advanced electronic materials***

***Leaving an “******ultra vacuum”***
***in its wake, Wake Shield***
***creates a unique ***
***environment ******(100x ***
***better than on Earth) ***
***in which to produce ***
***higher quality films. ***

**Thin Film**
**Epitaxial Growth**

**     ****Atoms are laid down in an atom **
**     ****to atom, layer by layer manner  **
**     ****onto a substrate in a vacuum.**

**• ****Quality of thin films is**
**   ****dependent on the quality **
**   ****of the vacuum ****in   which **
**   ****the epitaxy is performed  **
**   ****(such as space).**

**•  ****As the**** purity ****and ****uniformity**** **
**   ****of the films ****improves, ****so **
**   ****does its ****performance.**

**Next generation electronic **
**hardware **
**used in **
**cellular**
**phones and**
**computers.**

***In the Wake of Technology from Space***

## Widening the InformationSuperhighway

- <date/time>

**A. Space-Grown Fiber**

**B. Earth-Grown Fiber**

**Technology critical for:**
*** enhanced bandwidth capacity**
***enhanced communication satellites**
**May translate to faster and clearer communications network!**
**---------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center along with Lucent Technologies,Infrared Fibers Inc., and Galileo Electro-Optics are studying the significant superiority of space-grown optical fibers over those grown on Earth. When the fiber material is in a molten state, gravity causes**

**circulation in the liquid which results in defects when the fiber solidifies.  In space, the disruptive effects of gravity are gone  and a virtually defect-free fiber can be formed.  With fewer defects in the way, light can be transmitted further down the fiber before it is scattered.**

**Space yields:**
*** drastically fewer defects in crystal structure **
*** potentially 100x more efficient than traditional silica fiber optics**

***Which Optical Fiber would you choose?***

***Widening the Information******Superhighway***

## Frozen Smoke from Space

- <date/time>

***Frozen Smoke from Space***

**Aerogels****,**** the lightest solid known****, are only three  times **
**heavier than air. A block the size of a person weighs  less **
**than  a pound. Despite their lack of substance, these ghost-**
**like materials are the ****world’s best insulators****.  An inch thick-**
**ness can shield a flower from the heat of a blowtorch (right).**
**Because of their amazing qualities and transparent nature, aerogels are an obvious choice for ****super- insulating windows****.**

**Samples made on ****Earth**** contain large pore sizes which scatter light and **
**result in a  ****bluish haze****. **
**Researchers from the**
**Marshall Space Flight**
**Center and Aerojet Inc. have flown ****space **
**samples ****which show **
**a ****4-fold reduction in**
**pore size****. This results **
**in 4000x less light scattering and there-**
**fore ****enhanced clarity****.**

**According to Fortune Magazine, the ****aerogel market worldwide ****is projected to include**
**more than ****800 potential product lines ****ranging**
**from surfboards to  space satellite parts.                 **

**Using lessons learned from                          space, ****clearer aerogels ****may **
**someday routinely be made **
**on Earth for use in windows **
**and sunroofs.**

**House of the Future**

**Aerogel**
**Window**

- .**....a Filigree  of Silica within a Wisp  of Air**

## Growing Computers in Space?

- <date/time>

*Growing Computers in Space?*

***...Novel Materials  Allowing Computers to Work near the Speed of Light!***

**The next generation of supercomputers may rely on light through a science called photonics. Much like electronics uses electrons as a source of energy to process information, photonics  uses  photons (light). However, novel materials must be developed to make this technology possible.**

**Optical (Photonic) Vs. Electronic Switching**
**Currently, optical( photonic) signals such as those used in fiber optics, must be converted into electrical signals, switched, and reconverted back into optical.  This is very time consuming.  Optical switching allows signals to be switched directly.  This can be done in less than a trillionth of a second!  Non-linear Optical Materials (NLO) are the materials used to make optical switching possible.**

**NLO’s grown in space are more ordered (right) **
**and interact more efficiently with light.  As this **
**happens, light frequencies can be doubled or tripled (above),  making optical data storage more  efficient****.**
**With the advent of new NLO materials, computers**
**may be able to process information near the speed **
**of light and store data  more efficiently. This means**
**that traffic jams currently encountered on the **
**information superhighway may  one day be relieved!   **
**Forthcoming space experiments will be conducted **
**by Optron Systems Inc. and the Consortium for **
**Materials Development of Space (CMDS).**

**Some NLO’s interact with light ****in such a way that  infra-   red light passing through an NLO changes to green(above).**

- Scientists from the 3-M Corp. conducted NLO experiments  aboard two shuttle flights.

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