For many, images from outer space are wonder pictorialized, glimpses of the primordial past made possible with the technology of the future. In reality the need to mitigate risks to multibillion dollar space missions can dampen the haste to adopt new technologies. But old tools cannot always deliver new tricks, and efforts to develop new equipment and methodologies to achieve the unprecedented measurements in unchartered extraterrestrial territory continue to attract considerable investment. Nanomaterials punch way above their weight in terms of functionality. Physics World looks at whether this is enough to earn their place in space.