A COLOUR-changing skin could help to keep pint-sized spacecraft at comfortable temperatures without the bulk and expense of normal cooling equipment.
If the temperature on board a spacecraft were not controlled, it would swing from freezing to scorching, playing havoc with the on-board electronics. It is usually regulated by pipes that carry refrigerants, or mechanical louvres to reflect the sun’s radiation. However, these techniques are too bulky for the lightweight satellites now being developed with the aim of slashing launch costs.
A team led by Prasanna Chandrasekhar, working at materials research company Ashwin-Ushas in Lakewood, New Jersey, believe they have…
