To protect its spacecraft from the rigors of deep space, a team of NASA engineers is turning to a time-honored—and battle-proven—solution: chain mail. Led by Raul Polit Casillas, whose mother is a fashion designer in Spain, the group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed a prototype fabric that puts an extraterrestrial spin on the armor of yore.
The fabric is strung together from a series of articulated metallic tiles, which reflect light on one side and absorb it on the other, providing a mechanism for thermal regulation. Pliable yet durable, it can also be manipulated into a variety of shapes without ceding tensile strength.