Jennifer Watkins and Timothy Phero, two graduate students in the Advanced Materials Laboratory, recently co-authored on a paper published in Nature Partner Journal Flexible Electronics titled “Aerosol jet printed capacitive strain gauge for soft structural materials.” In this work, Jenn and Tim were part of an interdisciplinary Boise State team that collaborated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Johnson Space Center (NASA JSC) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to fabricate and test additively manufactured strain gauges used to monitor the structural health of future inflatable space habitats. This work ensures astronaut safety and further improves the structural life of the inflatable habitats used for NASA’s long duration and deep space missions.
You can read more about their work on the Boise State News website and read the full publication on the NPJ website.