How to use Space Mushroom
An open place to look up what is known about a material: the numbers, where each one comes from, and what is still missing.
What you will find
Each material has a profile. Every number in it shows its source, the place in that source, the conditions it was measured under, and whether it was measured, calculated or predicted. Space performance is the main focus, and any material can be added. Right now the platform holds seven lithium battery materials with detailed profiles, and 40 polymers from NASA's MISSE 2 experiment outside the International Space Station.
Find a material
- Materials lists everything. Filter by kind of material, environment, stress or application.
- Category pages explain a kind of material in plain words, list its types, and show what matters when comparing them.
- Benchmarks rank materials of one kind on the same measurements.
- Collections group materials from different types that belong together, such as all lithium battery materials.
Read a material page
- Overview gives a short summary, what the material is best and worst at, and the key numbers.
- Properties lists every measurement. Material values describe the material itself. Cell values describe a finished cell, which varies by maker, so read the conditions.
- Corrosion and risks covers how it reacts with other things, its hazards, what can go wrong, and what it does to nearby parts.
- Uses and supply shows where it is used and where its raw materials come from.
- Record and sources opens the full list of documents and references.
Each value carries one of these labels:
- measured in flight or measured in a lab: someone measured it.
- calculated: worked out from the material's formula or structure, not measured.
- prediction: from a model or simulation. Predictions are never shown as measurements.
The small numbers in tables are references. Click one to see the source and the exact place in it. no data means nobody has published a value we could source. It does not mean zero.
Use the data
Every profile can be downloaded as CSV (one row per value, with conditions, method and source), JSON, or YAML. Benchmark pages offer a CSV of the whole comparison. The data is licensed CC BY 4.0, and images keep the licence shown with each one. To cite a profile, open its References pane and use "Cite this profile".
Know the limits
- The platform is young. Coverage is small and uneven.
- Profiles are research drafts and have not been reviewed by a human editor. The review status of each profile is in its downloadable record.
- Some numbers come from review articles that quote earlier work, and some are calculated by the editors. Both are labeled. Check the source before relying on a number.
- Risk levels are an editor's reading of the cited sources. They are not a safety certification and not a qualification for flight.