The city of Brownsville, Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Thursday announced a grant of $150,000 from GBIC’s Launch BTX program to support the development and eventual commercialization at UTRGV of cosmic radiation shielding for use on satellites and spacecraft.
Constantine Tarawneh Ph.D., UTRGV senior associate dean for research and graduate programs in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, is the principal investigator on the cosmic shielding research project. He was on hand for the announcement with a group of his undergraduate students who are working on the project.
“It’s basically we’re going to be working on special formulations,” Tarawneh told the Brownsville Herald. “There are some polymers (on the market) but we’re going to be doping it with certain materials to get it to basically improve its mechanical properties, its radiation properties, its sterile properties, make it be able to get rid of the heat that’s within the satellites, and also be durable.”
The research involves creating sample specimens on which tensile (stretch) and compression testing will be performed, he said. With the right product, the potential for commercialization could be significant. The ultimate goal is for a company to be created around the technology in order to mass produce and market the product — a process known as technology transfer in research institution circles.
“Right now a lot of the material is either durable but cannot withstand radiation for long periods, so they need to be maintained,” Tarawneh said. “Or they can withstand (radiation) but they’re not durable. It’s very hard to get the right balance where it is durable enough but also can have the shielding properties that are needed.”
The grant money will go to his students and some faculty for summer research and mentoring, also materials and property, he said, noting that the high-tech materials the undergrads will be working with can be expensive.
“We’re not talking about huge quantities,” Tarawneh said. “It’s small percentages, but still.”
Once the correct formulation is found, mass production would take place at UTRGV, while students who take part in the research should be able to easily transition into jobs with the company or other companies within the space industry, he said.
“It’s really a win-win for the students,” Tarawneh said. “Depending on how long the project is, some of them might be able to get a master’s level (degree) and then go into the company with a higher (pay) rate. It’s one of those projects, it’s just a start, and I think that there are a lot of other layers to it.
“This is just like the first layer, but I can see this relationship going on for a couple of years before large-scale production,” he said. “Usually it takes some time to get the formula right, but after that it’s easy to expand and see how we can look for the most efficient way to mass produce things.”
Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said GBIC’s support for space-related research at UTRGV represents “true collaboration” between the city and the university, noting the city’s emphasis in recent years on recruiting aerospace and trying to anticipate what economic development will look like in the next couple of decades.
“We see a lot of opportunities in space,” he said. “We see a lot of opportunities in being able to capture that industry, being that we already have a SpaceX presence here. That opens the door to a lot of opportunities and it’s up to us to capitalize on those opportunities.”
