Survivability of carbon nanotubes in space

Carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns were exposed to the space environment on the international space station (ISS) at low Earth orbit (LEO) of around 400 km altitude. Ground-based comparison tests, including irradiation of atomic oxygen (AO), electron beam (EB) and ultraviolet (UV) individually for different sets of samples, were performed. Significant deterioration of the outer surface and substantial reduction in tensile strength were found for AO...