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The importance of materials for Space applications Space is a really harsh environment, not only for astronauts but also for materials. Radiations, atomic oxygen, outgassing, debris and micrometeorites, high and low temperatures are the main problems materials for Space applications have to deal with. For this reason, a structure that wants to stay in Space has to be made with some specific materials, such that it can guarantee mechanical and functional properties and protect astronauts. Let's describe all these problems more in detail and see which are the main adopted solutions. Radiation Radiations represent the most famous problem in Space related to astronauts health. In fact, materials for Space applications have to be able to protect astronauts but also to maintain their mechanical and functional properties. Radiations are divided into two main categories: UV radiations and ionizing radiations .  UV radiation UV radiation has a really detrimental effect on polymeric...

What's the role of Artificial Intelligence in Space applications ? As we have seen in other articles, the general role of Artificial Intelligence is that of optimizing some functions to be able to perform them with the minimum error or adapt some behaviours of a machine to an unpredictable situation, namely, a situation that is difficult to be predicted during the design phase and that gives us some uncertainties. The role of Artificial Intelligence in Space application is exactly the same: it is used to optimize some functions, performance, adapting a machine to unpredictable, uncertain conditions. In this article, I will present a particular example of how Artificial Intelligence in Space applications is used. In particular, we will see how an automatic lander for comet/asteroids works, adapting itself to really uncertain conditions, difficult to predict during the design phase. A brief introduction to asteroids landings The history of landings on asteroids is not muc...