3 min read<\/p>\n
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ioannis-2.jpg?w=1357\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\nThe Jet Propulsion Laboratory perfected aerogel for the Stardust mission. Under Stardust, bricks of aerogel covered panels on a spacecraft that flew behind a comet, with the microporous material \u201csoft catching\u201d any particles that might strike it and preserving them for return to Earth.<\/div>\nNASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nConsisting of 99% air, aerogel is the world\u2019s lightest solid. This unique material has found purpose in several forms \u2014 from NASA missions to high fashion.<\/p>\n
Driven by the desire to create a 3D cloud, Greek artist, Ioannis Michaloudis, learned to use aerogel as an artistic medium. His journey spanning more than 25 years took him to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge; Shivaji University in Maharashtra, India, and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.<\/p>\n
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A researcher at MIT introduced Michaloudis to aerogel after hearing of his cloud-making ambition, and he was immediately intrigued.\u00a0Aerogel<\/a>\u00a0is made by combining a polymer with a solvent to create a gel and flash-drying it under pressure, leaving a solid filled with microscopic pores.\u00a0<\/p>\nScientists at JPL chose aerogel in the mid-1990s to enable the\u00a0Stardust<\/a>\u00a0mission, with the idea that a porous surface could capture particles while flying on a probe behind a comet. Aerogel worked in lab tests, but it was difficult to manufacture consistently and needed to be made space-worthy. NASA JPL hired materials scientist Steve Jones to develop a flight-ready\u00a0\u00a0aerogel<\/a>, and he eventually got funding for an aerogel lab.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ioannis-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>Consisting of 99% air, aerogel is the world\u2019s lightest solid. This unique material has found purpose in several forms \u2014 from NASA missions to high fashion.<\/p>\n
Driven by the desire to create a 3D cloud, Greek artist, Ioannis Michaloudis, learned to use aerogel as an artistic medium. His journey spanning more than 25 years took him to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge; Shivaji University in Maharashtra, India, and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Scientists at JPL chose aerogel in the mid-1990s to enable the\u00a0Stardust<\/a>\u00a0mission, with the idea that a porous surface could capture particles while flying on a probe behind a comet. Aerogel worked in lab tests, but it was difficult to manufacture consistently and needed to be made space-worthy. NASA JPL hired materials scientist Steve Jones to develop a flight-ready\u00a0\u00a0aerogel<\/a>, and he eventually got funding for an aerogel lab.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A researcher at MIT introduced Michaloudis to aerogel after hearing of his cloud-making ambition, and he was immediately intrigued.\u00a0Aerogel<\/a>\u00a0is made by combining a polymer with a solvent to create a gel and flash-drying it under pressure, leaving a solid filled with microscopic pores.\u00a0<\/p>\n