Two weeks ago team Space Origami went to Frascati, near Rome! We were invited to speak at ESA’s phi week, at a side event about in-space manufacturing and foldable materials.

We spoke about why DNA origami could be an interesting material for future space missions. As long term space travel or even plans of habilitation of space become a reality, the search for new potential space-materials begins as well.

DNA origami is a sustainable material, it’s light, usable for multiple purposes…a nano-sized multi tool that we want to bring to space for the very first time.

ESA’s phi-week is all the possible areas of application that exist now and will exist in the future by observing Earth from space. With the help of the many satellites orbiting our planet, scientists can obtain data like water temperature, greenhouse gas occurrence, wildfires, population growth and many many more parameters. At the conference, the role of AI and how it can help us interpret the enormous amount of data produced everyday by satellites was highlighted.

In a lot of talks during the week, the 17 UN development goals and how to reach them with the help of space technology were presented.

Although Space Origami’s project of bringing DNA origami to the International Space Station doesn’t directly have something to do with Earth observation, we had an amazing week with spirited talks about the future of space research and learned a lot. Thank you ESA for inviting us and giving us the chance to talk about our project and meet so many talented scientists!

Your Space Origami Crew