Composite Metal Foams

[Atlas2342]

One of the materials with lots of applications...

http://phys.org/news/2016-04-metal-foam-obliterates-bullets.html

Its very strong, lightweight, handles heat/fire well, and protects against radiation.

Pretty cool eh? 

Edited April 13, 2016 by Atlas2342

[AngelLestat]

I like it.

[wumpus]

6 hours ago, Atlas2342 said:

One of the materials with lots of applications...

http://phys.org/news/2016-04-metal-foam-obliterates-bullets.html

Its very strong, lightweight, handles heat/fire well, and protects against radiation.

Pretty cool eh? 

Generally speaking "protects against radiation" is nearly always synonymous with "has mass".  I wouldn't count on it being much better at such things than *anything* else, and in space simply piled local mass (assuming on a planet/moon) makes more sense (unless you can turn local dust into foam, which might make more sense.  Especially on Mars where there already is an atmosphere of sorts).

[KSK]

The article is understandably light on actual numbers but apparently this stuff is good for blocking gamma rays and neutrons. If we ever do get around to seriously using NTR powered spacecraft, it sounds like a useful material to build your shadow shield from.