One thing that is essential to making an effective space structure is that it is light and that it is strong. So whenever there's a way of making some thing lighter and stronger space spaced science recieves a well needed boost and everything gets just a little bit easier.
"The U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa, materials-technology company GTM Advanced Structures and scientists at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have patented a fiber metal laminate (FML) called CentrAl reinforced aluminum, or CentrAl, for use in aircraft manufacture."
CentrAl is 25 percent stronger than current aluminum alloys (which I'm not certain that they use in space craft, but I'm pretty sure it's a good bet. A REALLY good bet.) Which means that less of it can be used which in turn makes what ever is constructed out of it much lighter (not necicarly 25 percent lighter, but much more so). Central is made out of a combination of Glass and alluminum arranged in layers of glass fiber/epoxy sandwiched between layers of aluminum. Which not only decreases weight but makes it much more damage resistat than current carbon-fiber equivalents.
Full article at: New Material Could Revolutionize Aircraft Maintenance
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