--- description: How many problems can one material solve? According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the answer may well be limitless, thanks to its... title: NASA’s New ‘Space Fabric’ image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [NASA](/tag/nasa/) ## NASA Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # NASA's New 'Space Fabric'  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 11, 2017 10:56 AM CUT  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 11, 2017 10:56 AM CUT How many problems can one material solve? According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the answer may well be limitless, thanks to its new 3-D-printed metallic “space fabric,” designed to be especially useful outside Earth’s atmosphere. Among its many possible applications: regulating the temperature of an astronaut’s suit (one side of the textile reflects light, the other absorbs it) and folding into a backup antenna (the metal can be tailored to conduct radio waves). Although it’s still a prototype, creator Raul Polit Casillas says the ultimate goal is to make the “highly adaptable” fabric even more utilitarian by enabling astronauts to custom-print in space. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4775439/nasas-new-space-fabric/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4775439/nasas-new-space-fabric/"},"headline":"NASA's New 'Space Fabric'","datePublished":"2017-05-11T10:56:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:52:13.127Z","description":"How many problems can one material solve? According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the answer may well be limitless, thanks to its...","url":"https://time.com/4775439/nasas-new-space-fabric/","keywords":["NASA"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nasa/","name":"NASA"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4775439/nasas-new-space-fabric/","name":"NASA's New 'Space Fabric'"}}]}] ```