Posts in category: Featured

There are more solutions than obstacles. Nicolas Zart

Donald Thomas, NASA Astronaut, famously says: “Never leave Earth without cork.” And he makes a point of it. Yet most of us know cork as the humble stopper in wine bottles—tossed aside without a second thought. But did you know that this 5,000-year-old material shields spacecraft, silencing EVs, and even protects eVTOL batteries from fire, EMFs, and more?

From NASA’s Mars landers to electric vehicles (EVs) interiors, cork is revolutionizing innovative mobility. So, pun intended, let’s uncork its potential.

From Earth to Space

From NASA to the European Space Agency (ESA), the latter’s IXV mission marked a turning point for cork. As Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s former Director-General, noted, cork was critical for the Ablative Thermal Protection System during re-entry. See Amorim, 2015.

And this is how it works. The Portuguese cork leader, Amorim Cork Composites, partnered with Thales Alenia Space to develop the P50 cork, a silicone-cork hybrid to shield antennas and electronics from EMI. This composite can withstand up to 2,200°C (3992°F ) during atmospheric re-entry.

But back on Earth, cork is applied to EVs, electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOLs), and Beyond. With EVs, Tesla and other EV makers use cork-polymer composites for dashboards, door panels. Cork is 50% lighter than synthetics with a much better carbon footprint. It is also ideal for acoustic insulation, reducing noise by as much as 30% than synthetic alternatives.

On a personal note, I was one of the first EV journalists to test the BMW electric i3 in 2014. I remember being impressed by the cork-trimmed interior as a way to show that ‘eco-luxury’ wasn’t an oxymoron.

Slightly back up with Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), cork is an ideal material to help with fireproofing. Its stable make-up makes it ideal for eVTOLs for their battery shielding. It can withstand fires up to 1,200°C or 392°F. It is also ideal for vibration damping, which is so critical for organ transport, especially as we now turn our attention to drones. This extends to other industries, such as rail and maritime. Cork-rubber mounts dampen vibrations in high-speed rail and on sea vessels. Airbus uses it as cryogenic insulation for its hydrogen fuel system testing.

Cork’s Superpowers By the Numbers

Source: Fraunhofer Institute, 2023

The Cork Sustainability Prowess

After a devastating 2011 fungi attack, Amorim doubled down on R&D and today proved through this study that cork stoppers are 25% more sustainable than aluminum and synthetics. The Corticeira Amorim’s study, (“Analysis of the life cycle of Cork, Aluminum and Plastic Wine Closures”), developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, concluded that, “concerning the emission of greenhouse gases, each plastic stopper released 10 times more CO₂, whilst an aluminium screw cap releases 26 times more CO₂ than does a cork stopper. For example, to produce 1,000 cork stoppers 1.5 kg CO2 are emitted, but to produce the same amount of plastic stoppers 14 kg of CO2 are emitted and for the same amount of aluminium screw caps 37 kg CO2 are emitted.”

And with zero waste, 70% of Amorim’s energy comes from cork byproducts. Cork’s carbon-negative footprint means cork oak forests absorb 14M tons/year of CO₂.

Today, NASA’s Artemis Program is testing cork for lunar habitat insulation. Even MIT is embedding sensors with cork for real-time battery health monitoring.

Cork reminds us that sometimes, the best solutions aren’t invented. Earth has fashioned them for millions of years. So next time you pop a bottle, take a moment to remember that this ‘humble’ material is shielding a spacecraft, satellites, EVs, and your future eVTOL.”

🔗 Further Reading:

• Amorim’s ESA case study
• Fraunhofer’s EV battery research

Here is the video of the article.

From Wine Bottles to Spacecraft: Cork’s Silent Revolution in Mobility!

In this episode of The Ways We Move, Nicolas Zart uncorks the untold story of a material quietly reshaping sustainable mobility—from NASA’s Mars landers to BMW’s electric vehicles, rail, maritime, and more.

🔊 Key Insights:

Space-Tested: How cork shields spacecraft during re-entry (and why NASA is eyeing it for lunar habitats).
EV Revolution: Cork’s role in lightweighting and soundproofing electric vehicles.
Carbon-Negative: Why harvesting cork saves forests and outperforms aluminum/plastic.
Future Frontiers: Cork’s potential in Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and beyond.

🕒 Chapters:
00:00 – Cork’s Ancient Legacy Meets Modern Mobility
02:49 – NASA, ESA, and the Space-Grade Cork Revolution
05:34 – How BMW and Tesla Are Using Cork Today
10:57 – Why Cork is the Ultimate Sustainable Material
14:41 – What’s Next? Cork in eVTOLs and Lunar Base

You can listen to the podcast here.

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Clarification: This is not paid advertising for Amorim. It just happens that the company is at the forefront of cork technology.