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Default | NEWS
10/15/1998
CONTACT: Lia Unrau RICE, NASA TEAM UP TO ADVANCE NANOTECH FRONTIER Development of new materials and applications using nanotubes--carbon fiber tubular structures, potentially 30 to 100 times stronger than steel but one-sixth its weight--is the focus of a new collaboration between Rice University and NASA. This recent Rice-NASA effort is aimed at enhancing collaborations that will advance the nation's space program in this new frontier--development of advanced nanotechnology materials and applications. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and Rice University President Malcolm Gillis signed a statement of collaboration outlining the proposed agreement in a ceremony at Rice today. The ceremony also included Richard Smalley, director of Rice's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and George W. S. Abbey, director of the Johnson Space Center (JSC). "The relationship between Rice and NASA goes back a long way," Gillis says. "President Kennedy chose Rice University as the venue for his announcement of plans to put a man on the moon. Rice donated the land on which the Johnson Space Center is built; in return, NASA helped construct Rice's space science building, home of the first space science department at any university in America. Because of NASA, Rice was one of the very first universities to establish a department of space physics. Rice's Fondren Library is the official repository of a sizable share of JSC's archives. In the past five years, NASA has supported research in several fields at Rice, including gravitational biology, work on the Hubble telescope, telerobotics, software for high performance computing, and research in nanoscale science and engineering focused on fullerene materials and fabrication of ceramic composites. This new joint venture centering on nanotubes capitalizes on this fruitful history, and will further strengthen our interactions with NASA." According to the statement of collaboration, the research will focus on "exploring and exploiting opportunities for new materials and products enabled by carbon-fiber tubular structures"--fullerene fibers only about a nanometer (one-billionth of a meter) in diameter. The collaboration is to include:
Nanotubes have a number of desirable qualities, including a potential tensile strength higher than any known fiber and electrical conductivity similar to metals. There are considerable possibilities for nanotube applications that could help NASA in its aviation and aerospace goals, including applications which enhance life on Earth. Possible applications include composite materials with extraordinary strength, smaller semi-conductors, mechanical systems with atomic-scale dimensions, chemical sensors, and power and hydrogen storage devices. Smalley, who received the Nobel Prize in 1996 with Rice chemist Robert Curl and Harold Kroto of the University of Sussex for their discovery of fullerenes, will lead Rice participation. Smalley is the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics. The collaboration will combine the expertise of NASA and a pioneering research group at Rice to establish a world-class research team in nanotechnology. "The new Advanced Nanotechnology Materials and Applications project will be a great boost to the research efforts on fullerene fibers here at Rice," Smalley says, "and, on a longer term, to the overall development of nanotechnology in the Houston area. My associates and I are thrilled to be able to contribute what we can to the nation's space program. Many of us were inspired to become scientists in the first place because of the great achievements of NASA we watched on TV in our youth. Now we have our chance to complete the circle." Rice University is a leading American research university, small, private, and highly selective, distinguished by its superior teaching, commitment to undergraduate education, outstanding graduate and professional programs, residential college system, collaborative and interdisciplinary culture, and global perspective. ### |
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