Advanced space technology is being found more down-to-earth uses – even within the cars driven on Europe's roads.

The ESA conference ‘Technology Exchange between Space and Automotive Industry’ is to highlight how spin-offs from space are influencing the evolution of European automobiles, heralding improvements in safety, performance and power. It will take place 6 November at ESOC, Darmstadt in Germany.

"Space technology deals with the challenging conditions of launching and space operations," explained Dr. Ulf Merbold, ESA Utilization Promotion Manager. "These extreme environments are drivers for innovative solutions, which can then be applied elsewhere."

The automobile and aerospace industries shared early pioneers, and have other elements in common: "Parallels can be drawn between protection of a payload and a driver in a car," said Dr Pierre Brisson, Head of ESA's Technology Transfer and Promotion Office. "Everything has to be done to protect against dangerous factors, such as vibrations and impact."

Reducing vibrations in racing cars

The Prost Formula 1 team has reduced the vibrations its drivers endure during high-speed races. Prost achieved this using a dampening system first developed by Artec Aerospace for protecting satellite payloads during rocket launches.

A carbon composite material first designed to withstand the white-hot temperatures in Ariane rocket nozzles is now being utilised by Messier-Bugatti in high-performance brake systems for both Formula 1 and standard road vehicles.

In addition a novel sensor 'skin' originated by the Canadian Space Agency is to be fitted to automobile bumpers. Originally intended to improve the tactile sensitivity of orbital robots used to assemble the International Space Station it will also enable bumpers to detect what type of obstacle they run into. If the bumper hits a 'hard' object like a wall or car it will stay rigid, while if it hits a 'soft' object – like a human being – it will crumple.