19 November 2024
Dr Konstantina Kanari, Advanced Research Engineer at National Composites Centre (NCC) is featured in the November edition of Materials World - the harsh environments issue.
In her article, Konstantina explores the critical role advanced materials play in Europe’s space economy and highlights the NCC’s contributions to composites innovation for space applications. Drawing on her experience presenting the UK’s feedback to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Harmonisation Technical Dossier on Composite Materials, Konstantina provides insights into how collaboration across academia, RTOs, and industry is advancing the UK’s position in global space exploration.
Read an extract below
'As space exploration enters its next era, the development and harmonisation of advanced materials are pivotal. Dr Konstantina Kanari MIMMM, of the UK’s National Composites Centre puts the pieces together.
'Experts are saying that we are now in the third era of the Space Race. It is predicted that the global space economy will grow from an estimated £270bln in 2019 to around £490bln in 2030, according to third party market projections in the UK Government’s national space strategy.
'In the past decade, there has been a boom of new companies looking to ‘democratise’ space, along with renewed interest in organisations like NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. This can partly be attributed to the development of advanced materials that has
enabled a new generation of smaller satellites launched at a lower cost.'
The article is accessible for Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining members and is a must read for those shaping the future of materials science in extreme environments.
