A low mass, low-complexity technology called the Elastic Memory Composite Hinge may be able to stop the shock spacecraft components experience when heavy springs deploy such components as solar arrays and antennae. The EMCH, which contains carbon fiber strands and an epoxy resin, gets pliable as it heats up but is stiff when cool. Composite Technology Development, Inc., working with Air Force Research Lab’s Space Vehicles Directorate, designed, advanced, and tested the EMCH project, which is now being evaluated aboard the International Space Station, where it will remain for 18 months.
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…