Panasonic Industry Co., Ltd announced plans to investigate the impact of the space environment on electronic materials and aid future product development for aerospace applications.  Materials to be tested include high-performance circuit board laminates and underfills for board-level reinforcement. These materials will be launched into space next year and positioned on the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo on the International Space Station (ISS) for six months.

These experiments will expose Panasonic's products to the space environment and yield useful data on its effects. These products -- MEGTRON series multi-layer circuit board materials, FELIOS series of flexible circuit board materials, and LEXCM series assembly materials -- are widely used in aerospace, automotive and telecommunications infrastructure. Conducting experiments in an environment with microgravity, high vacuum, cosmic radiation and extreme temperatures (difficult to replicate on Earth) will aid Panasonic in developing electronic materials suitable for expeditions to the moon and Mars, which are expected to increase, as well as technological innovations for high-altitude platform stations (HAPSs).

See full press release here.