2022/09/08

The BSGN Advanced Materials Accelerator invites you to discover space-enabled opportunities for driving new materials innovations

Category: Innovation and trends in plastic materials

What would you do if you could take gravity out of the equation? How would you use an environment where there is no convection, sedimentation or buoyancy? An environment with the potential to develop high-quality, defect free crystals for next-generation semiconductor materials and advanced functional ceramics; more homogenous alloys and foams; more even deposition leading to more homogeneous coatings and thinner thin films; the possibility to study fluid dynamics, diffusion and viscosity, without buoyancy playing a role, critical in understanding formulation chemistry.

The commercially available microgravity platforms, such as those hosted on the International Space Station and others orbiting earth, are offering enterprises a unique R&D toolset to study, manipulate and develop new material solutions to both known and novel engineering challenges. Dozens of companies, including large multinationals, such as Lamborghini, Adidas and Procter & Gamble, are conducting cutting-edge R&D in microgravity to develop superior products and new production methodologies that can overcome barriers faced by the terrestrial production processes which are being pushed to their theoretical limits.

On 20 September, between 10.00 – 11.30 the BSGN Advanced Materials Accelerator invites you to online event to discover space-enabled opportunities for driving new materials innovations by leveraging the microgravity R&D platforms in the Earth’s orbit. The accelerator is coordinated by the Satellite Applications Catapult in the UK with partners including AIMPLAS, Innovate UK KTN, the National Composites Centre (NCC), the DLR Institute of Material Research (DLR) and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI).

Call for Proposals

At this webinar, the ESA BSGN Advanced Materials Accelerator will launch its Call for Proposals, which will invite light-touch proposals from innovators and enterprises. The most attractive ones will be selected to form a Project Portfolio for the accelerator for further development and maturation.

Register for this event

Who is this webinar for

Advanced materials manufacturers, innovators and industrial OEMs
Cross-sector and multinational end users throughout the supply chain
Academics and research organisations from the materials community
Technology and in-orbit manufacturing service providers from the space sector
Members of the investment community with interest in deep-tech, materials innovations and in-orbit manufacturing and assembly

What to expect from the webinar

An overview of the space-enabled opportunities for the materials and manufacturing sectors
Hear about the ESA BSGN Advanced Materials Accelerator, its services, priority areas and success criteria for Proposals
Hear about existing microgravity facilities as well as service providers that can host and facilitate access to orbital research and manufacturing platforms
Learn about our upcoming deep-dive workshops

About the BSGN Advanced Materials Accelerator

The BSGN Advanced Materials Accelerator has been established to support innovators and enterprises developing new products, technologies, and services at the intersection of advanced materials and microgravity engineering. The accelerator promotes opportunities for engineering novel materials in microgravity, and the contract is carried out under the BSGN programme of and funded by the European Space Agency.

The BSGN Accelerator has three phases, with the first phase designed to generate interest and demand, and support projects and businesses with commercial potential that could develop products and services in space. The activity will focus on five advanced materials technology areas: