This research project, SPACE-FML-PROTECTION, focuses on the creation of new fiber-metal laminates (FML) to improve spacecraft protection against hypervelocity impacts (HVI). The project focuses on improving the performance of traditional monolithic aluminum bumpers while maintaining the same overall thickness and weight. To do so, it will investigate the use of aluminum alloys combined with high-performance fibers such as Xtegra® fabrics, which exhibit auxetic properties. These fabrics will be arranged in an optimized layer sequence within the FML structure to minimize dispersion and improve energy absorption during impact. To ensure the success of the project, advanced numerical simulations using a hybrid Finite Element Method-Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (FEM-SPH) framework will be employed to model and analyze the behavior of the FMLs under HVI conditions. Experimental validation will be carried out using a gas gun and a hypervelocity impact facility to validate the numerical models and optimize the FML designs. The results will be used to develop a ballistic limit equation to predict the critical debris size that the armor can withstand. In addition, a whole life cycle assessment (LCA) will be conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of new FMLs compared to existing shielding systems. This multidisciplinary approach is expected to result in a new generation of lightweight and effective shielding materials for spacecraft, improving their protection from space debris while minimizing environmental impact. The results of the project will have important implications for the aerospace industry, potentially reducing manufacturing costs and improving the safety and longevity of space missions.

The functioning of the European Union (EU) legal system is ensured through an intricate interdependent and non-hierarchical judicial system, where judges at the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and national courts must rely on the willing cooperation with each other to enforce decisions on EU law matters. Scholars have pointed to the relevance of legal, historical, sociological and political factors in explaining why courts cooperate within the EU judicial system. However, recent scholarly and policy debates underline the relevance of trust-enhancing solutions in addressing some of the current challenges facing the EU legal system: specifically that of judicial defiance of national courts to the authority of the CJEU. These concerns have been aggravated in the context of democratic and rule of law backsliding in Hungary and Poland, which have raised serious doubts about the correct application of EU law within a network of thousands of national courts. Despite this incipient interest, we still lack adequate theorising about the truly sociological and relational nature of this phenomenon, which is crucial for the development of a more fine-grained account of inter-judicial relations and for answering: what is trust between judges? Which factors make judges trust other judges? What are the implications of judicial trust for cooperation in multi-level systems? The CURIAFIDES project is an interdisciplinary and ground-breaking research project, aiming at investigating the relevance of trust between judges for the cooperation and, subsequently, the legal integration of the EU. The project will articulate a novel socio-legal theory of judicial trust within the EU, which will be based on strong empirical evidence collected from experiments, surveys, and interviews with CJEU and national judges. The purpose of which being is to define and explain judicial trust and its impact on judicial cooperation, which ties into a broader aim of offering new policy and legal solutions.