Abstract

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Group 15: Abstracts of the presentations Presentation A: Presented by Lucia Bianchi and Antoine Poirier-Boulet. Presents a comprehensive review of self-healing materials. It goes through their definition and key performance index, as well as classification and healing mechanisms. It links the technology’s development with biomimetics and its approach to design inspired by nature. Finally, applications for self-healing materials are proposed for society in general, as well as for the space industry specifically. The aim of the presentation is to give an overview of the state of the art of technology, its development and potential applications, to a technical audience interested in the subject. Presentation B: Presented by Alessandro Crotta and Matteo Dall’Ora. Over the last years, space activities have increased significantly giving rise to new opportunities and technologies, together with new challenges and problems to face. More than 50.000 objects have been sent to space, but only less than 10% are intact today because of degradation and collisions with debris. As a consequence of the economic losses related to these problems, researchers had to think outside of the box exploring new innovative solutions. Among these, the so called “self-healing materials” allowing for autonomous repair without human intervention. The presentation, addressed to the technical management of a company, briefly explains their functioning principles and typologies, with a view on their TRL and market growth in the space sector. After an estimation of the losses related to debris damages, the potential of self-healing materials as a new way to reduce the amount of satellite replacements is pointed out, to promote R&D investments in projects focused on the topic. Presentation C: Presented…