The NASA it also adds to the fever that currently exists for the artificial intelligence and has revealed the implementation of this technology to design spacecraft components and hardware for the future missions it is preparing. Using a system created by the IAthe National Aeronautics and Space Administration You have already managed to create a part for one of your vehicles using this method.
According to what the US space agency indicated in the publication of its official pagethe parts created by this system of IA they weigh less, tolerate higher structural loads, and require a fraction of the time it takes to develop human-designed parts.
“They look kind of alien and weird, but once you see them in action, it really makes sense,” he said. Ryan McClellandresearch engineer in charge of the project.
An initiative with AI from NASA
McClelland pioneered the design of unique and specialized parts using commercially available AI software in the Goddard Space Flight Center from NASA, producing a hardware that has been baptized as “evolved structures”. “You can carry out the design, analysis and manufacture of a prototype part, and have it in hand in as little as a week. It can be radically fast compared to how we are used to working,” said the researcher.
To design these complex structures, a computer-assisted (CAD) specialist starts from the mission requirements and draws the surfaces where the part connects to the instrument or to the spacecraft, as well as bolts and accessories for electronics and other hardware. The designer may also need to plot a path so that the algorithm does not block a laser beam or optical sensor. Finally, more complex constructions may require spaces in which the technicians’ hands can maneuver for assembly and alignment.
“Algorithms need the human eye. Human intuition knows what looks right, but if left to its own devices, the algorithm can sometimes make structures too thin,” he said. McClelland.
A great help in NASA missions
The evolved components of McClelland have been adopted by missions of the NASA in different phases of design and construction, such as balloon astrophysical observatories, scanners of the Earth’s atmosphere, planetary instruments, space weather monitors, space telescopes and even the sample return mission of Marte to the Tierra
Peter Naglerphysical of Goddard Space Flight Center from NASAturned to evolved structures to help develop the mission EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE), an aerostatic telescope developed to study hot Jupiter-like exoplanets in orbit around other stars. EXCITE is under development and it is planned to use a near-infrared spectrograph to make continuous observations of each planet’s orbit around its host star.
A long-duration superpressure balloon of the NASA will raise the mission payload EXCITE with an engineering test flight in fall 2023.
We recommend you METADATA, RPP’s technology podcast. News, analysis, reviews, recommendations and everything you need to know about the technological world.