• Question: have you ever used carbon fibre in any of your projects ? ?

    Asked by JeetS on 3 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Steve Williams

      Steve Williams answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      My company does use carbon fibre on spacecraft but as a software engineer I don’t get involved.

    • Photo: Roy HAWORTH

      Roy HAWORTH answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      Hi JeetS, Yes we use Carbon Fibre in many satellites, normally as part of the central structure that transfers the thrust of the rocket as the satellite takes off. We also use it where heat (Thermal) issues may distort metal panels particularly in Optical observation satellites. We also use many other materials both metallic and polymer and have whole departments of people studying these materials and their properties to make sure they are suitable for space.

    • Photo: Declan Vogt

      Declan Vogt answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      I’ve used carbon fibre in the form of fibre-wound tubing: making a tube by winding carbon fibres coated in resin around a solid mandrel. When the product has been baked, the mandrel is removed resulting in a very strong stiff tube.

      The tube was deployed in boreholes up to 1 km deep, where it had to resist water pressure equivalent to 100 atmospheres. The tube was used to house a radar antenna that had to be able to “see through” the tube to probe the rock around it – so we couldn’t use a metal tube. Carbon fibre met our requirements perfectly.

      But as they say: strong, light, cheap – choose any two. We chose strong and light.

    • Photo: Jarryd Braithwaite

      Jarryd Braithwaite answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      Carbon fibre is used in a lot of aerospace projects as it has lots of good properties, such as being light and strong!

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      I’m an engineer that’s never actually been involved in the physical design of spacecraft. My job(s) have usually involved operating/flying satellites after they have been built, or developing software to assess risks of spacecraft currently in orbit. As such i’ve never had to consider what materials we use etc. I can tell you however that carbon fibre is used extensively on spacecraft!

    • Photo: Calum McInnes

      Calum McInnes answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      I use carbon fibre on a daily basis in my work. I’m researching on how we can use carbon fibre on rocket structures to make our vehicles lightweight. If the rocket has a lower weight then we can launch larger payloads to orbit – ideally this will allow for future crewed missions to be enabled. Carbon fibre is a great material for aerospace but we’re still in the early stages of understanding what we can do with it.

    • Photo: Stu Robertson

      Stu Robertson answered on 4 Nov 2020:

      I’ve used it in the propellor of my paramotor – its a great material for withstanding the great centripetal force on a gunned propellor. My bike is carbon fibre too… but I often think I could shave a few kilograms off my riding weight in other places.

    • Photo: Abbie Hutty

      Abbie Hutty answered on 23 Nov 2020:

      Yes, I learnt a lot about Carbon Fibre at University, and have actually worked with it a lot, both physically making things out of carbon fibre, and designing them. At University I designed the carbon fibre chassis for a racing car for my final year project, and my Master’s thesis was on the use of carbon fibre to make small satellites more lightweight. I was then the lead engineer for the ExoMars Rover’s structure. That will be the first ever primarily Carbon Fibre Mars rover on Mars! So I got to lead the team in designing the carbon fibre chassis, and solar array panels, and things for that. It will be a very proud moment for me when that reaches Mars and I can say I led the design team that achieved it!

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