Automobili Lamborghini and the ISS
Updated: Dec 6, 2019
Automobili Lamborghini is set to create another world first on the International Space Station (ISS), just weeks after Emirati astronaut, Hazza Al Mansouri, became the first Arab in space. In collaboration with the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Automobili Lamborghini will become the first car manufacturer to conduct research on advanced carbon fibre composite materials on the ISS. No earlier than 2nd November, a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket is scheduled to launch from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to the International Space Station (ISS), carrying with it a series of sample composite materials produced by Automobili Lamborghini. The launch is part of a testing campaign sponsored by the ISS U.S.
National Laboratory and overseen by the Houston Methodist Research Institute. Its aim is to analyse the response of five different composite materials produced by Lamborghini to the extreme stresses induced by the space environment, in view of future applications on the cars from Sant’Agata Bolognese and in the medical field. The mission, for which Lamborghini is providing its collaboration free of charge, takes place two years after the agreement signed by Stefano Domenicali, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Automobili Lamborghini, and Mauro Ferrari, then President and CEO of the research institute and now President of the European Research Council. With this agreement, a joint research project was initiated to study the biocompatibility of the composite materials to determine their possible use in prosthetic implants, but also in subcutaneous devices, taking advantage of their particular properties of light weight, radio transparency and radio compatibility.