About this role
Future NASA missions for space exploration, such as the Artemis program, require key technological elements that must provide sustainability, survivability, and an operational envelope in extreme environments, such as high and low extremes in pressures and temperatures, ionizing radiations, microgravity, chemical and/or physical corrosion, and hypervelocity particles and thermal flux. Advanced multifunctional materials enable revolutionary design schemes for future aerospace vehicles and structures for NASA missions such as Artemis program for Moon and Mars and outer planets exploration (e.g., Neptune and Triton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAOttjIiiTo) especially in extreme space environments. Recent studies of nanocomposite materials have shown the potential for both structural integrity and multifunctional capabilities; such as actuating, health monitoring, wear resistance, lunar dust mitigation, radiation shielding, radiation resistant, energy harvesting, thermal management, and thermal protection. For example, small loadings of nano-inclusions such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoHSNiZqwEY), 2D nanomaterials, or combinations of these inclusions in a polymer, ceramic, or metallic matrix may result in improving mechanical and thermal properties significantly while offering sensing/actuating/energy harvesting and radiation shielding functionalities. To explore the potential of emerging multifunctional materials, new composites, solar sail membranes, thermal protection system, and fibers and yarns with nano-inclusions will be developed experimentally and computationally to study their mechanical, thermal, electrical, sensing/actuation, radiation shielding, and exotic electromagnetic properties systematically for aerospace applications in extreme environments to protect crew and electronic devices.
**Eligible Applicants:** Student
**Academic Level:** Undergraduate Freshman, Undergraduate Sophomore, Undergraduate Junior, Undergraduate Senior, Graduate Master's, Graduate Doctoral
**Activity Type:** In-person
**Citizenship:** US Citizen Only
**Type:** Internships