Optical Thin Films in Space Environment: Investigation of Proton Irradiation Damage.

The present work reports a systematic study of the potential degradation of metals and dielectric thin films in different space environments. The mono- and bilayers selected are made of materials commonly used for the realization of optical components, such as reflective mirrors or building blocks of interferential filters. More than 400 samples were fabricated and irradiated with protons at different energies on ground-based facilities.

Swarm of lightsail nanosatellites for Solar System exploration.

This paper presents a study for the realization of a space mission which employs nanosatellites driven by an external laser source impinging on an optimized lightsail, as a valuable technology to launch swarms of spacecrafts into the Solar System. Nanosatellites propelled by laser can be useful for heliosphere exploration and for planetary observation, if suitably equipped with sensors, or be adopted for the establishment of network systems when placed into specific orbits. By varying the area-to-mass ratio (i.

Dependence of the damage in optical metal/dielectric coatings on the energy of ions in irradiation experiments for space qualification.

Terrestrial accelerator facilities can generate ion beams which enable the testing of the resistance of materials and thin film coatings to be used in the space environment. In this work, a [Formula: see text]/Al bi-layer coating has been irradiated with a [Formula: see text] beam at three different energies. The same flux and dose have been used in order to investigate the damage dependence on the energy.

Effect of water/fuel emulsions and a cerium-based combustion improver additive on HD and LD diesel exhaust emissions.

One of the major technological challenges for the transport sector is to cut emissions of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) simultaneously from diesel vehicles to meet future emission standards and to reduce their contribution to the pollution of ambient air. Installation of particle filters in all existing diesel vehicles (for new vehicles, the feasibility is proven) is an efficient but expensive and complicated solution; thus other short-term alternatives have been proposed. It is well known that water/diesel (W/ D) emulsions with up to 20% water can reduce PM and NOx emissions in heavy-duty (HD) engines.