Recent advances and future prospects of Space Materials Science

With the development of space science and technology, Space Materials Science has made significant progresses since 1960. Here, this commentary presents an overview of recent advances and future prospects of Space Materials Science, in the following aspects: the historical evolution of space experimental apparatus for materials research, the remarkable advances of space/ground-based materials exploration, the novel progresses conducted aboard the China Space Station, and the potential future prospects towards extraordinary manufacture. Both the representative research results obtained on the ground and those in outer space are reviewed, including thermophysical properties of metastable undercooled liquid alloys, fluid flow in levitated droplets, droplet oscillation, crystal nucleation, liquid/solid interface migration, rapid growth kinetics, and materials’ microstructure regulation. Especially, thanks to the experimental facilities aboard the China Space Station, a wide range of high-quality Space Materials Science experiments conducted by Chinese researchers have been accomplished in the past three years, and the corresponding findings are highlighted in this commentary, involving high undercooling of refractory alloys, shrinkage dynamics under space fluid flow, extraordinary eutectic growth kinetics, single crystal growth under microgravity, decoupling effect simulated independent dendrite growth, space separation of immiscible alloy, wettability behavior, and space lubricants. These remarkable achievements not only demonstrate the vitality and development potential of Space Materials Science, but also mark a significant milestone in space engineering and advanced scientific exploration.