Pininfarina Space

Description

Pininfarina Space is a writing instrument designed to be used in space. Entirely made of magnesium, an ultra-light material that offers high mechanical performance, Pininfarina Space was donated to the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) during the mission VITA, in which Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli also took part. VITA (an acronym for vitality, innovation, technology, ability) means life in Italian and is an appropriate name for the mission on which the technologies needed for life in space were tested.
The Pininfarina Space on the VITA mission has been used in microgravity conditions where normal pens cannot write. The metal alloy used for the tip of this instrument, Ethergraf, writes by oxidizing the paper, with no need for graphite nor ink, and is, therefore, the ideal solution for the environmental conditions in space stations, where the micro-debris produced by ordinary pencils’ graphite are very dangerous for the filtering system. Ethergraf tip is leaving a trace like graphite, but with the permanence as if it were written in ink.