Astronauts May Be Able to ‘Knit’ Their Own Space Station

Aly el-Shiekh envisions astronauts on a three-year trip to Mars “knitting” themselves a space station of ceramic fibers that can be braided to form panels, beams, boxes and practically any other shape.

“We believe if they can take the ceramic fibers they need and the machinery we’re developing they would be able to literally make the space stations they will need as they go,” said el-Shiekh, a mechanical engineer at North Carolina State University’s textiles school.

El-Shiekh and his students are developing machinery to braid long strands of ceramic fibers. Such fibers, bonded with epoxy, would also form heat shields and many of the parts in the vessel that carries people to Mars. The material will withstand speeds of 50,000 m.p.h. and temperatures of at least 4,000 degrees.

Varied Uses Foreseen

While much of his work is related to the Mars Mission Research Center here, el-Shiekh sees a big future for composite materials such as ceramic fibers.

“The day may very well come when you are driving around with car engine parts of ceramic fiber,” he said, adding that the vibration-absorbing properties of the materials would also make them good for torsion bars in cars.

“We also are working on the idea of putting this braided fabric in concrete, as reinforcing material, instead of metal rods,” he said. “It is stronger than steel, does not rust and would not wear away. The road would not deteriorate.”

The fibers, such as Kevlar, now used to make bulletproof vests, could also be used to make replacements for human body parts. El-Shiekh is working with Duke University researchers on ceramic “stents,” collapsible braces for arteries.

El-Shiekh, educated in his native Egypt, first saw the ancient art of braiding applied to space travel in the 1960s, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“The monkeys they were sending into space then came back dizzy, and they could not understand why. NASA sent us films to try to figure out why this was happening. What we finally discovered was that they were using twisted ropes for the parachute on the capsule.

“When the parachute opened the ropes would untwist, and that would make the capsule spin on the way down. It was the spinning that made the monkeys dizzy, so we suggested they change to braided ropes.”

El-Shiekh was working in other textile projects until two years ago, when a friend suggested he turn to developing automated machinery for ceramic fiber. A year later, NASA officials began setting up research projects on a manned Mars mission, and his work in ceramic fibers got their attention.

“The possibilities are limitless.” said el-Shiekh, who can produce shapes ranging from hollow cubes to panels with openings for wiring and conduits already braided into them. “The big problem is cost, and that’s why we’re working on this automated machinery.”

Using scrap parts and whatever materials he could find, he has designed and built two computerized braiding machines.

“By hand, we can make an inch of this every hour,” he said, pointing to an inch-square column of braided carbon fiber. “With automation, we can turn out 36 inches every 15 minutes, and we can do it uniformly. Done by hand, there is always a difference in the braid from person to person.”