Two European startups, Germany\u2019s FibreCoat and Spain\u2019s Lofith Composites, have teamed up to create a new composite material for satellite panels designed to be lighter, stronger, and more sustainable than conventional materials such as aluminum.<\/p>\n
The companies plan to demonstrate the thermoplastic composite in orbit next year aboard an undisclosed satellite, with a year-long test evaluating its durability under radiation and extreme temperature changes in space. The new material combines FibreCoat\u2019s proprietary fiber coating technology \u2014 which integrates metals and plastics \u2014 with Lofith\u2019s thermoplastic tape, a recyclable material that is 50% lighter and 30% stronger than aluminum, while also using less water during production.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace pushes materials to their limits,\u201d said FibreCoat CEO Robert Br\u00fcll. \u201cBy combining FibreCoat\u2019s coated fibres with Lofith\u2019s advanced composites, we are proving that strength, survivability, and cost-efficiency can go hand in hand. We are confident that the upcoming orbital test will prove that our technology is ready for use in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
The companies hope the innovation will set a new standard for in-space materials by combining reduced weight and improved structural resilience with environmental benefits and lower costs. The development also reflects growing European interest in advanced materials for aerospace and defense applications.<\/p>\n
FibreCoat, which initially focused on terrestrial industries, has recently expanded into space technologies following a nearly \u20ac20 million ($23.1 million) Series B funding round in December. In September, the company secured an additional \u20ac500,000 ($579,000) prize at the DLR\u2019s INNOspace Masters competition for its FibRaShield material, which offers up to 60% better radiation protection for in-space electronics compared with aluminum shielding. The firm has also developed radar-absorbing composites that could help reduce spacecraft detectability.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two European startups, Germany\u2019s FibreCoat and Spain\u2019s Lofith Composites, have teamed up to create a new composite material for satellite panels designed to be lighter, stronger, and more sustainable than conventional materials such as aluminum. The companies plan to demonstrate the thermoplastic composite in orbit next year aboard an undisclosed satellite, with a year-long test […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[244,7726,455,7064,7727,20,489],"class_list":["post-21093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-europe","tag-fibrecoat","tag-germany","tag-innospace","tag-lofith-composites","tag-satellite","tag-startup"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}