The Materials Science Experiment Rocket (MASER) 14 was launched from the European Space Centre in Esrange, Sweden, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC).🚀
The experiment aims to test the possibilities of printing graphene inks in space.
Graphene inks can be used in the production of batteries, supercapacitors, printed electronics, and more.
The researchers try to are able to demonstrate how these inks work in space,with this discovery astronauts could potentially print their own devices on the go, or they can repair electronics with graphene ink printers.👨🚀
The experiments conducted this week were a collaboration led by the University of Brussels, with Cambridge, Pisa, and ESA. The inks that were tested in the experiments were produced by the research group of Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre.
Studying the different self-assembly modes of graphene into functional patterns in zero gravity will enable the fabrication of graphene electronic devices during long-term space missions, as well as help understand fundamental properties of graphene printing on Earth.