This month, the University of Notre Dame and Sierra Space signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate future collaborations that advance space research and exploration.

A leading pureplay commercial space company, Sierra Space is building “the first end-to-end business and technology platform in space to benefit life on Earth.” The company is developing the transportation systems and on-orbit infrastructure that will enable researchers and engineers to manufacture breakthrough products and innovations only made possible in microgravity.

Tengfei Luo, the Dorini Family Professor for Energy Studies in Notre Dame's Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, said the partnership will lead to innovative and applicable discoveries. "This agreement is a significant opportunity, both in terms of education and for both fundamental and applied research," he said.

Luo, who is currently leading a project in collaboration with the International Space Station (ISS), emphasized that some research conducted in space is not possible in Earth-based labs.

"When we remove gravity, this helps us gain a better grasp of the fundamentals," he explained. "Then, we are able to design better experiments here on Earth."

He also mentioned his lab's interest in manufacturing materials in space. "In many polymer composite materials, particles separate as they cure because of Earth’s gravity. But in space—with the absence of gravity—we can produce them more easily," he said.

David Go, Notre Dame’s Viola D. Hank Professor and newly appointed vice president and associate provost for academic strategy, said the agreement will provide unique benefits for Notre Dame students.

Go, who is also chair of the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, said, “Growing our research in space is going to be a great service to our students because it will offer them more opportunities to engage in space-related technologies, engage in research that has space relevance, and also understand the tie between technologies that go in space and how they have terrestrial benefit.”

Clive Neal, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences (CEEES), said the partnership will establish new opportunities for him and his research group.

“We can develop instrumentation for space exploration on Earth, but it needs to be tested in space. If we can do that, we will radically reduce the risk and make space exploration safer and more feasible,” Neal explained.

For Neal, who has been involved in lunar research for 36 years, the agreement marks the start of a new chapter for space research at Notre Dame.

“This is really just the beginning,” Neal said. “I trust that the relationship with Sierra Space will continue to grow and that we will see more and more research related to space within the University.”

Contact:

Brett Beasley / Writer and Editorial Program Manager

Notre Dame Research / University of Notre Dame

bbeasle1@nd.edu / +1 574-631-8183

research.nd.edu / @UNDResearch

About Notre Dame Research:

The University of Notre Dame is a private research and teaching university inspired by its Catholic mission. Located in South Bend, Indiana, its researchers are advancing human understanding through research, scholarship, education, and creative endeavor in order to be a repository for knowledge and a powerful means for doing good in the world. For more information, please see research.nd.edu or @UNDResearch.

About Sierra Space:

Sierra Space (www.sierraspace.com) is a leading pureplay commercial space company at the forefront of innovation and the commercialization of space in the Orbital Age, building platforms in space to benefit life on Earth. With more than 30 years and 500 missions of space flight heritage, the company is enabling the future of space transportation with Dream Chaser®, the world’s only winged commercial spaceplane. Under construction at its Colorado headquarters and expected to launch in 2023 on the first of a series of NASA missions to the International Space Station, Dream Chaser can safely carry cargo - and eventually crew - to on-orbit destinations, returning to land on compatible commercial airport runways worldwide. Sierra Space is also building an array of in-space destinations for low-Earth orbit (LEO) commercialization including the LIFE™ habitat (Large Integrated Flexible Environment), a three-story commercial habitation and science platform designed for LEO. Both Dream Chaser and LIFE are central components to Orbital Reef, a mixed-use business park in LEO being developed by principal partners Sierra Space and Blue Origin, which is expected to be operational by the end of the decade.