---
title: "NASA’s Sun-Exploring Spacecraft Contains Powdered Bones"
description: "The Solar Orbiter, a NASA and ESA spacecraft that's exploring the Sun, is kept safe from heat and radiation by a coating of charred, ground-up bones."
date: "2021-04-01"
modified: "2021-04-01"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-sun-spacecraft-contains-powdered-bones"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "NASA"
  - "solar orbiter"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA’s Sun-Exploring Spacecraft Contains Powdered Bones

![The Solar Orbiter, a NASA and ESA spacecraft that's exploring the Sun, is kept safe from heat and radiation by a coating of charred, ground-up bones.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/solarorbiter.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: ESA/ATG medialab\</em\>*

## Deeply Metal

The Solar Orbiter, a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency, is coated by a surprisingly brutal kind of shielding.

The spacecraft, which was launched into orbit last February, [recently completed](<https://futurism.com/space-probe-closest-pictures-sun>) its first trip behind the Sun, *[CNN ](<https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/31/tech/solar-orbiter-black-enbio-spc-intl-scn/index.html>)*[reports](<https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/31/tech/solar-orbiter-black-enbio-spc-intl-scn/index.html>), a journey that it could survive thanks to a coating of charred, powdered bones called SolarBlack. The bones serve as a shockingly powerful shield against powerful cosmic radiation — or perhaps a [Jolly Roger-style](<https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/why-did-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger/>) warning to any extraterrestrials that sail past.

## Shields Up

Those trips around the sun expose the Solar Orbiter to 13 times the amount of deadly cosmic radiation than what reaches the Earth, as well as metal-melting temperatures, according to *CNN*, so the spacecraft needed some extra protection.

So the biotech company ENBIO — which previously developed synthetic bone coatings for medical and dental implants — stepped up to suggest bone might also be a good fit for the titanium space probe.

## Black Metal

The problem is that the usual synthetic bone coatings burned and changed color. That altered the craft's ability to absorb heat in a way that the two space agencies couldn't afford, according to *CNN*, so the bone needed to also be charred and blackened in advance — in part to control its heat absorption properties but also so it wouldn't damage the spacecraft by sizzling during the mission.

Over the next several years, the bone-dusted Solar Orbiter will pass closer and closer to the Sun — meaning that if all goes well, we may see ground-up bones become a major part of space exploration in the future.

**READ MORE:** [Powdered bones are keeping Solar Orbiter cool thanks to an Irish startup](<https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/31/tech/solar-orbiter-black-enbio-spc-intl-scn/index.html>) \[*CNN*\]

**More on the Solar Orbiter:** *[A Space Probe Just Took the Closest Pictures of the Sun Ever](<https://futurism.com/space-probe-closest-pictures-sun>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)