South Dakota Mines Awarded $750,000 NASA Grant to Develop Materials for Exploration of Other Planets

The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology has been awarded a $750,000 NASA EPSCoR grant to develop direct-write printable spacecraft materials and electronic and electromagnetic devices for use in future exploration.

By printable spacecraft NASA envisions thin, lightweight, flexible sheets embedded with customized sensors and electronics for data gathering, communication and micro-propulsion. When deployed above other planets, the sheets will flutter to the surface like leaves, eliminating the need for complex landing systems and enabling humans to reach previously inaccessible areas. Upon reaching their destination, the sheets will transmit data collected during their fall and landing back to the host spacecraft.

Using direct-write technology, the team will develop printable spacecraft components ranging from sensors and antennas to solar cells and micropropulsion for steering. If successful, the micropropulsion technology developed will be the first-ever printable propellant formulation in the world.

“Traditionally we send one device to scan a narrow part of the atmosphere or surface of a planet. Through this work we will be able to scan a large portion of a planet. The printable spacecraft will be able to go everywhere, even in areas where humans cannot such as inside a volcanic crater,” said Dimitris Anagnostou, Ph.D., the project’s science principal investigator (PI) and Mines associate professor.

Led by Anagnostou, the team is comprised of researchers from SD Mines, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Glenn Research Center, University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, Optomec, Inc. and Quest Integrated.

The majority of the research will be conducted in the Direct-Write Laboratory (DWL) at SD Mines, which has been a leader in digital fabrication for the past decade. Uniquely positioned for the enterprise, the laboratory possesses the capability to synthesize inks, manufacture materials for space applications, print electric components and devices, and synthesize, process and print nanoparticles for propulsion and solar cells.

“Research at Mines increased last year. This is one more example of how we are expanding knowledge and its application,” said SD Mines President Heather Wilson.

Researchers will also investigate the stability of printed components under extreme thermal cycling from -120 degrees to 100 degrees Celsius, radiation and vacuum conditions.

Research team members include:

– PI Edward Duke, Ph.D., SD NASA EPSCoR director and SD Mines professor
– Science PI Dimitris Anagnostou, Ph.D., electrical and computing engineering associate professor
– South Dakota School of Mines & Technology co-investigators
— Grant Crawford, Ph.D., materials and metallurgical engineering assistant professor
— William Cross, Ph.D., materials and metallurgical engineering associate professor
— Lori Groven, Ph.D., chemical and biological engineering assistant professor
— Jon Kellar, Ph.D., materials and metallurgical engineering professor
— Keith Whites, Ph.D., electrical and computer engineering professor
– South Dakota State University co-investigators Qiquan Qiao and Robert McTaggart
– University of South Dakota co-investigators Mary Berry and Paul May
– Mike O’Reilly, Optomec, Inc., with locations in New Mexico and Minnesota
– Vincent Fratello, Quest Integrated, Washington