Why does metal stick together in space?
SMRTR summary
On Earth, metal surfaces are coated in a thin layer of oxide that prevents them from bonding together. In space, there's no oxygen to maintain that layer, and radiation strips surfaces even cleaner, allowing exposed atoms to share electrons and permanently fuse — a process called cold welding. This caused NASA's Galileo probe's antenna to fail in 1991. Engineers now use special coatings and dissimilar metal pairings to prevent it.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Live Science.
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