Elon Musk sent his Tesla Roadster into space last year. The launch commenced with all the due pomp, including a mannequin in a space suit, a stereo with Space Oddity played on the loop, and A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sitting in the car’s glove compartment right next to the towel reading, ‘Don’t Panic’.
Things will be quite different with Lamborghini, though, which announced earlier today that it wanted to launch a number of carbon-fiber samples to the International Space Station on November 2, 2019 with strictly scientific purposes in mind.
Five specially picked samples of carbon fiber will undergo a series of experiments on Earth’s orbit within the next six months, including tests for prolonged exposure to extreme heat (+200ºC, or +392ºF), extreme cold (-40ºC, or -40ºF), sun radiation, and other radiator types. Later on, the company will bring the samples back to Earth to study the extent of their physical and chemical degradation.
Among other things, the company will test an innovative material so far only used in the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento (see the gallery and the video), as well as certain promising innovative car parts (such as those printed in 3D using a different method).
It is believed that the research outcomes will be useful not just for the car industry, but other areas of knowledge as well, such as medical science. Apparently, the Italian luxury carmaker has spent the past two years working on this project with a research team of the Houston Research Institute.