SpaceCarbon aims to develop European-based carbon fibres (CF) and pre-impregnated materials for launchers and satellite applications, enabling a European supply chain that is capable to reduce the dependency of the European Space sector on this critical Space technology and, therefore, reducing the risk of stopping future Space programmes, due to supply restriction and shortage of these materials from non-European sources. SpaceCarbon is expected to create the capacity in Europe to produce specialty CF products, and related intermediate products, by promoting the development of industrial and research facilities in these products and contributing to improve Europe’s worldwide competitiveness in the field of high performance Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) structures. In SpaceCarbon, it is objective to develop the semi-industrial manufacturing process for Intermediate Modulus (IM) CF (starting at TRL 6 and aimed to achieve TRL 8), targeting mainly launcher applications, and to improve the properties of the previously obtained High Modulus (HM) CF (starting at TRL 4) aiming at reaching a modulus in the range of 440 to 540 GPa at TRL 6. These properties will allow to enter in the range of HM CF products that are used in satellite sub-system applications. Moreover, the prepregs manufacturing process will be developed at semi-industrial scale to make possible to provide such materials at short-term to European Space End-users and to develop new prepreg formulations at lab scale, in view of enhancing composites performance for future Space missions. New testing methods will be developed to support the development and qualification of such materials, according to Space environment requirements. Finally, the design, manufacturing and testing of launcher and satellite sub-component demonstrators will be performed with the developed SpaceCarbon materials to validate their possible use at short and mid-term for Spacecraft structures.

ICARUS proposes a new thermodynamic methodology able to identify the elements and the relative chemical composition allowing a nanocrystalline state to occupy a relative minimum of the Gibbs free energy, which makes the nanostructure reasonably stable against coarsening. This approach will be integrated, in synergy with multiscale and thermodynamic (Nano-Calphad) modeling, in order to implement a High-Throughput Screening (HTS) tool that will open a new horizon of discovery and exploration of multinary thermal stable nanocrystalline alloys, exhibiting superb tailored properties. ICARUS brings a radically new concept by addressing a still unsolved problem in the stabilization of nanocrystalline alloys. The materials discovery approach of ICARUS will be synergistic with the forefront industrial production technologies of nanomaterials and alloys. Results arising from ICARUS exploration will be materialized in specific demo compounds representative of carefully selected new alloys families that will change the present paradigm of EU aerospace industry. The most promising nanocrystallyne material identified will be synthesized by mechanical alloying and physical vapor deposition, and the obtained samples characterized toward the applicability in the aerospace sector. A proof of concept from its approach will be given and tested by experts and specialized industries working in the aerospace sector in close contact with NASA and ESA. In particular, ICARUS will demonstrate its potential by producing innovative coarsening-resistant nanocrystalline alloys with enhanced radiation tolerance (based on refractory metals), and light-weight high strength (based on Al, Mg, Ti) alloys.