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- 🤖 A.I. and the future of space travel
Good morning and welcome to the latest edition of neonpulse!
In today’s issue we’re going to be highlighting how A.I. is being used to design and develop the next generation of spacecraft.
Enjoy!
A.I. designed telescope component
What could be confused for an installation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is actually a critical part NASA’s new EXCITE telescope, an ”evolved structure” that has been designed using the latest in A.I. tech.
“The parts look somewhat alien and weird,” said NASA Research Engineer Ryan McClelland, “but once you see them function, it really makes sense.”
What you’re looking at represents the future of engineering, an A.I. based design technology that NASA has adopted for the creation of components on its future spacecraft.
Using commercially available A.I. software, engineers start by entering design constraints into the system, including physical connection points and the specific strength requirements for the structure.
Then the A.I. gets to work, creating designs that stray far beyond the bounds of traditional design, yet result in hardware that is significantly stronger and lighter than traditional components.
“We find the parts generated by the algorithm don’t have the stress concentrations that you have with human designs. The stress factors are almost ten times lower than parts produced by an expert human,” McClelland said.
And not only are the A.I. designed components up to 66% lighter than traditional components, the speed at which you can go from prototype to finished product has been reduced drastically.
“You can perform the design, analysis and fabrication of a prototype part, and have it in hand in as little as one week,” McClelland said. “It can be radically fast compared with how we’re used to working.”
McClelland sees the technology as a particularly good fit for NASA because of the high number of custom parts required to build spacecraft.
“If you’re a motorcycle or car company,” McClelland said, “there may be only one chassis design that you’re going to produce, and then you’ll manufacture a bunch of them. Here at NASA, we make thousands of bespoke parts every year.”
And while designing spacecraft components represents a leap forward in design technology, McClelland believes that the real magic will happen when we begin to combine A.I. design with 3D printing.
“These techniques could enable NASA and commercial partners to build larger components in orbit that would not otherwise fit in a standard launch vehicle, they could even facilitate construction on the Moon or Mars.”
An example of this would a spacecraft that would be far too large to escape earths gravity if built on earth, yet could be “printed” in space using raw materials delivered by rockets from earth.
Hyperganic Rocket
One company that is pioneering the 3D printing of A.I. designed structures is German software company Hyperganic, whose engineers have experimented with developing 3D-printed designed rocket engines in order to transcend the limitations of traditional manufacturing.
While traditional rocket engines are created from multiple components, the team at Hyperganic has developed the technology to print a one-piece rocket engine, which is not only far lighter and stronger than a traditional rocket engine, but reduces the potential failure points as well.
"In a rocket, the cooling channels are generally welded onto the combustion chamber, which through wear and tear can cause errors and explosions," explained Hyperganic's design director Duy-Anh Pham.
"Our engine in contrast is made up of only one piece, that has been designed to have the lowest weight and most effective cooling, and so the highest possible performance for a given rocket."
Relativity Space HQ
Taking this one step further is Relativity Space, a startup that’s utilizing 3D printing technology to transform raw materials into finished rockets in as little as 60 days, a process that has traditionally taken 2 years.
In order to accomplish this task, Relativity, which was co-founded by Space X and Blue Origin Alumni, has designed and built the worlds largest 3D printers, allowing the company to lower production costs significantly while creating rockets with designs previously not possible.
Called one of the 100 best inventions by Time magazine, the company’s Stargate printers are the centerpiece of Relativity’s vertically integrated rocket factory and are currently producing the Terran 1 rocket, the company’s first commercial product and the largest-ever 3D-printed object.
Terran 1 Rocket
The Terran 1 represents a quantum leap in rocket design and construction, with the rapidly-reusable design providing the ability to transport the massive amounts of raw materials into space that will be necessary in order to build large space stations and space crafts in space.
You can check out the first launch of Relativity Space’s rocket, scheduled for March 8th at 1:00pm EST, on their YouTube livestream here.
And now your moment of zen
That’s all for today folks!
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