A new type of electromagnetic shield designed and manufactured at RMIT has been launched into space this week by the Swedish Space Corporation from their Esrange Space Center in the north of the country.
The experiment – called RADICALS – has the capacity to fundamentally change how astronauts and electronics are protected from harmful radiation in space by promising to be smaller, lighter and filter out more types of radiation.
The 10cm cubesat was joined by eleven other experiments making up the four hundred and forty two kilo payload on the maiden flight of the Red Kite and Improved Malemute Motor combination rocket operated by the German Aerospace Center. It reached an apoge of two hundred and sixty five kilometers with all experiments back on Earth within an hour.
The RADICALS project is led by RMIT space physicist Dr Gail Iles, an Associate Professor in Physics who has previously worked at the European Space Agency.
