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New space for chemical discoveries

Nature Reviews Chemistry volume 1, Article number: 0055 (2017) Cite this article

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For long-duration space exploration to be successful, it is essential that chemistry research in space — which has been neglected to date — is intensified. The results of this research is also likely to be of benefit to those at home on Earth.

Increasing public and private interest in deep-space exploration begs the question: how do we undertake long-duration space flights with the limited resources that can be carried on such flights? If a manned deep-space flight is to go ahead, then the crew will still need air to breath, water to drink and food to eat, just to mention the most fundamental necessities. A further crucial requirement will be the supply of medical treatments for astronauts on long-duration spaceflights1. Although we believe that many of these challenges can be solved using synthetic chemistry, there has been surprisingly little focus on chemistry R&D in space research (in contrast to efforts in biology and physics). In addition, performing controlled chemical experiments in space might lead to unusual chemical reaction pathways being uncovered and could provide insights into how different organic molecules form in outer space. Finally, we note that a wealth of innovations from previous space programmes have become part of everyday life; for example, photovoltaic cells, memory foam, water filters and aerogels all owe their existence to earlier space exploration efforts. Similarly useful developments are anticipated from chemical R&D. In this Comment, we highlight some of the previous achievements and summarize what should be of interest in the near future — from a chemist's perspective — to accelerate space exploration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ThalesNano, Graphisoft Park, Záhony street 7, Budapest, H-1031, Hungary

    Richard Jones

  2. Flow Chemistry Society, Schulstrasse 14, Kleinandelfingen, CH-8451, Switzerland

    Ferenc Darvas

  3. MTA-SZTE ‘Momentum’ Photoelectrochemistry Research Group, University of Szeged, Rerrich Square 1, Szeged, 6720, Hungary

    Csaba Janáky

Authors
  1. Richard Jones
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  2. Ferenc Darvas
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  3. Csaba Janáky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Csaba Janáky.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Jones, R., Darvas, F. & Janáky, C. New space for chemical discoveries. Nat Rev Chem 1, 0055 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-017-0055

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