by Felix Schmidt, Application Engineer for Space
Space is not just Earth with fewer rules.
It is a hostile environment, and one that violates many of the assumptions that engineers make on the ground. Vacuum, radiation, extreme temperature swings, total remoteness – all of these combine to create a harsh environment and a corresponding set of challenges unlike anything encountered in terrestrial industry. As space becomes critical infrastructure, and standalone satellites are swept away by fleets with on-board data processing and, eventually, by such sci-fi concepts as lunar construction and planetary exploration, those challenges are becoming central rather than marginal. Materials are no longer an afterthought. They are a bottleneck.
This is the context in which FibreCoat’s work on advanced fibres for space has to be understood. Our core insight is a simple one, but also a powerful one: many of the trade-offs that have long constrained space hardware – trade-offs between weight and shielding, between cost and performance, between composites and functionality – are no longer unavoidable. In fact, with the right materials, developed by means of the right processes, they can be softened or removed altogether.
Why space breaks electronics
Radiation is one of the defining constraints for any space system. Outside the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, electronics are exposed to a continuous flux of high-energy particles. Over time, these particles damage components, corrupt data, and shorten the lifetime of the systems in question. And the typical response has been to use ‘space-grade’ electronics: components designed with large feature sizes and conservative architectures that are inherently more tolerant of radiation.
The problem with this is the price. It’s extreme. Space-grade components routinely cost thousands of times more than their terrestrial equivalents, despite having far lower computational performance. Engineers therefore find themselves between a rock and a hard place: either they pay vastly more for less capable chips, or they surround more powerful chips with heavy, thick metal shielding. Both impose penalties in cost, mass, and capability. Neither is optimal.
FibreCoat is attacking this problem from a different angle. Instead of taking radiation-resistant electronics as a given, we have gone back to first principles and developed fibre-based shielding materials that can be integrated directly into composite structures. The aim is twofold: cut the cost of protecting electronics, and enable the use of more powerful, more modern chips in orbit.
This matters because the demand for onboard computing is rising sharply. Proposals for orbital data centres, advanced Earth-observation processing, and increasingly autonomous spacecraft all point in the same direction. More computation power in space means more heat, more radiation sensitivity, and tighter packaging – all of which exacerbate the materials problem.
Composites without compromise
With respect to how modern spacecraft are protected, composites – especially carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers – already dominate. They are light, strong, and well understood by manufacturers. The problem is that, unlike metal, composites offer little inherent electromagnetic or radiation shielding, and as systems become more densely packed, this creates issues not just for radiation protection but also for electromagnetic compatibility, RF interference, and signal integrity.
FibreCoat’s materials are designed to restore that lost functionality but without forcing a return to heavy metal structures. By embedding coated metal fibres, such as bismuth, within composites, we can offer radiation and electromagnetic shielding without adding to the weight or cost of the material.
Proving it in orbit
Testing space materials on Earth has limits. You can simulate aspects of the space environment, but the only definitive test is exposure in orbit. FibreCoat is addressing this by means of an in-space demonstration mission, designed and run in collaboration with the Spanish composite manufacturer Lofith.
The experiment is conceptually straightforward. A composite plate incorporating FibreCoat’s radiation-shielding fibres will fly with two sensors: one shielded, one unshielded. Over a mission duration of roughly one to two years, the sensors will gather radiation data, allowing a direct comparison of performance. The matrix material is PEEK, a high-performance polymer widely used in aerospace, ensuring relevance to real spacecraft structures.
The mission is not about publicity. It is about qualification. If the results match our expectations – and we’re confident they will – then FibreCoat will have something rare in the space materials world: direct, long-duration, in-orbit evidence of performance. That kind of data will give our customers in space the confidence they need to commit and to protect their spacecraft, knowing our materials won’t let them down.
Beyond orbit: building with lunar dust
Our ambitions are not limited to the Earth’s orbit. Through a project supported by the European Space Resources Innovation Centre in Luxembourg, we have been exploring the production of fibres from lunar regolith, the fine dust that covers the Moon’s surface.
The logic is straightforward. If humanity is serious about building sustained infrastructure on the Moon, which would include landing pads, roads, and shelters, then it cannot rely on transporting construction materials from Earth. Mass is cost, and cost is prohibitive. Local materials must be used.
Regolith on its own is a poor structural material; but processed into fibres, it becomes far more effective. Fibre-based structures are weight-efficient, mechanically strong, and versatile. Our project has focused on miniaturising the production process: designing a spinning line small and light enough to be launched, and ensuring it can keep working in lunar conditions.
At this stage, the work is developmental rather than operational. There is no committed lunar deployment. But the direction of travel is there. As plans for lunar bases stop seeming abstract and start to become more concrete, this ability to turn dust into durable structures will become essential.
Why now
What ties these threads together is timing. Space is no longer a niche domain of bespoke missions and one-off satellites. It is becoming critical infrastructure comprising dense constellations, always-on services, and systems designed to operate for years rather than months. That shift exposes the limitations of legacy material choices.
Our proposition is not that it has solved every materials problem in space. It is that, by rethinking how fibres are coated, combined, and integrated, some of the most painful trade-offs can be done away with. Lighter structures need not mean weaker shielding. Composites need not mean electromagnetic vulnerability. Performance need not be sacrificed for endurance over time. We’re positioning ourselves as enablers of the future of space, protecting the spacecraft proliferating in orbit so that we can enjoy a better quality of life here on Earth.