Today's small spacecraft pack sensors, guidance and control, and operating electronics into every available space. Printing electronic circuits on the walls and structures of spacecraft could help future missions do more in smaller packages.

Engineers successfully tested hybrid printed circuits at the edge of space in an April 25 sounding rocket flight from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia. Electronic temperature and humidity sensors printed onto the payload bay door and onto two attached panels monitored the entire SubTEC-9 sounding rocket mission, recording data that was beamed to the ground.

Space is a dangerous place. From micro-meteorites and electromagnetic interference to fires in space and extreme heat and cold, we need to develop new materials to enable the next generation of space travel and intergalactic travel.

New Swinburne research published in Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials highlights the cutting-edge materials that are solving these problems, including those being developed by Swinburne's Multifunctional Materials and Composites team.

These include self-healing polymers, fire and thermally resistant materials, materials for thermal management, self-cleaning materials, EMI shielding materials and multifunctional carbon fiber composites.

Lead author and Swinburne Engineering Senior Lecturer Dr.