Powdered bones are keeping Solar Orbiter cool thanks to an Irish startup

Dublin-based ENBIO created a coating from burnt bones, allowing ESA's Solar Orbiter probe to withstand temperatures hot enough to melt lead.

A joint mission with NASA, the Solar Orbiter launched in February 2020 and recently emerged from its first pass behind the sun. It has to be able to withstand temperatures hot enough to melt lead, as well as 13 times the radiation that reaches the Earth's surface. At first, the agency looked for conventional solutions, based on metals and carbon fiber, but they were not good enough, Cesar Garcia Marirrodriga, ESA's project manager for Solar Orbiter, told CNN Business. Instead, the agency found the answer in a material that dates back to the Stone Age.