Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A gem of a material could provide a shield for spacecraft

Material that includes carbon with the same structure as diamond could be used to protect satellites from space radiation.
Image of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter taken by the Perseverance rover.

Carbon-fibre composites, which have been used on spacecraft such as the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, could be shielded from space radiation by a polymer-carbon coating. Credit: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/LANL/CNES/CNRS/SPL

A lightweight, radiation-resistant coating could one day be used to protect spacecraft and their scientific payloads from the harsh conditions of outer space1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 615, 769 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00834-3

References

  1. Delkowski, M., Smith, C. T. G., Anguita, J. V. & Silva, S. R. P. Sci. Adv. 9, eadd6947 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links