space

In this episode, we talk about the moonshot plan to beam energy harnessed from the sun in space to anywhere on planet earth. &nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a640e498-62b6-4c90-80a1-032b73e60340?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr>This podcast is sponsored by <a href="https://www.durolabs.co/?utm_source=Wevolver&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=the_next_byte" id="isPasted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Duro</a>. &nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY5MTEzNjcwNTQyLWV5SmlkV05yWlhRaU9pSjNaWFp2YkhabGNpMXdjbTlxWldOMExXbHRZV2RsY3lJc0ltdGxlU0k2SW1aeWIyRnNZUzh4TmpZMU5ESTBOakl5TkRZd0xWVnVkR2wwYkdWa0lHUmxjMmxuYmk1d2JtY2lMQ0psWkdsMGN5STZleUp5WlhOcGVtVWlPbnNpZDJsa2RHZ2lPamsxTUN3aVptbDBJam9pWTI5MlpYSWlmWDE5LndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><hr><h3 id="isPasted">EPISODE NOTES</h3>(4:48) - Beaming Clean Energy From SpaceEpisode 97 was brought to you by Duro, the PLM platform behind some of Farbod &amp; Daniel’s favorite hardware products!Click here to learn more about Duro and here to check out the case study discussed in this episode about how Momentus leverages Duro’s platform to be a leader in the space industry with their space infrastructure services.<hr>As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.To learn more about this show, please visit our<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">&nbsp;shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published. Be sure to give us a follow and review on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;</a>podcasts,<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!

In this episode, we talk about the moonshot plan to beam energy harnessed from the sun in space to anywhere on planet earth. 

Podcast: Beaming Clean Energy From Space

The origin of Mars&rsquo; two moons, Phobos and Deimos, is still unclear. To unravel this mystery, the <a href="https://global.jaxa.jp/" target="_blank" title="External link Japanese space agency JAXA">Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)</a> Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is scheduled to launch in 2024. A German-French rover will be on board to explore the surface of the 27-kilometre-diameter Phobos in detail. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f&uuml;r Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has now completed a major part of the rover. The CFRP structure, which was created in collaboration with several DLR institutes, including the uprighting and locomotion system, was delivered this week from <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/sites/bremen.html" target="_blank" title="Bremen">Bremen</a> to the French space agency CNES in Toulouse. Here it will be completed by the summer of 2023 with the installation of all instruments and systems. The MMX rover will then also be equipped with its miniRAD radiometer and RAX spectrometer. Both instruments were built at the DLR site in <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/sites/berlin.html" target="_blank" title="Berlin">Berlin</a> and sent to Toulouse beforehand.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1668515096146-cfrp-structure-of-the-mmx-rover-with-uprighting-and-locomotion-system.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">CFRP structure of the MMX rover with uprighting and locomotion system. Credit: &copy; DLR. All rights reserved&quot;With the MMX rover, we are breaking new ground in terms of technology, because never before has an exploration vehicle with wheels travelled on a small celestial body with only one-thousandth of the Earth&#39;s gravitational pull,&quot; says Dr Markus Grebenstein from the <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-robotics-and-mechatronics.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics">DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics</a> in Oberpfaffenhofen. &quot;As the rover free-falls onto Phobos following separation from the spacecraft, it will perform several &lsquo;somersaults&rsquo; upon touchdown without damage and come to rest in an unpredictable position. From this situation, it must autonomously upright itself with the help of the propulsion system and unfold its solar panels,&quot; Grebenstein, DLR&#39;s project manager for the MMX rover, continues. &quot;Finally, it will travel very carefully at only a few millimetres per second in order to retain contact with the ground with its special wheels despite the low gravity,&quot; adds Stefan Barthelmes from the <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-system-dynamics-and-control.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of System Dynamics and Control">DLR Institute of System Dynamics and Control</a> in Oberpfaffenhofen. The uprighting and locomotion system was developed and built at DLR&#39;s <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/robotics-and-mechatronics-center.html" target="_blank" title="Robotics and Mechatronics Center">Robotics and Mechatronics Center</a> in Oberpfaffenhofen. The <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-composite-structures-and-adaptive-systems.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems">DLR Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems</a> contributed the particularly lightweight carbon structure.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1668514945612-the-raman-spectrometer-rax.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The Raman spectrometer RAX (RAman spectroscopy for MMX) is a development led by the DLR Institute of Optical Sensor Systems with the participation of JAXA and the Spanish space agency INTA. RAX will determine the mineralogical composition of Phobos&#39; surface along the rover&#39;s route. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)<h2 id="isPasted">Measuring surface porosity and composition</h2>Upon separation from the MMX spacecraft, the 25-kilogram rover will descend about 50 metres to the surface of Phobos. This <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/articles/news/2020/03/20200930_in-free-fall-to-the-martian-moon-phobos.html" target="_blank" title="First tests for landing the Martian Moons eXploration Rover">has already been tested in initial drop tests</a> at the <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-space-systems.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of Space Systems">DLR Institute of Space Systems</a>, where integration has now also taken place. The rover will explore the physical and mineralogical properties of the moon&rsquo;s surface for 100 days. The two DLR instruments miniRAD and RAX will be used for this purpose. The miniRAD radiometer from the <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-planetary-research.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of Planetary Research">DLR Institute of Planetary Research</a> will determine the surface temperature using infrared measurements. It will also allow conclusions to be drawn about the porosity of the surface material for comparison with other asteroid and comet samples. The Raman spectrometer RAX (RAman spectroscopy for MMX) is a development under the leadership of the <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-optical-sensor-systems.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of Optical Sensor Systems">DLR Institute of Optical Sensor Systems</a> with the participation of JAXA and the Spanish Instituto Nacional de T&eacute;cnica Aeroespacial (INTA). RAX will determine the mineralogical composition of Phobos&rsquo; surface along the rover&#39;s route. The minerals of a celestial body are closely related to its formation and history, and comparisons with measurements taken by other rovers on Mars will help scientists to better understand the martian system with its moons.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1668514985799-the-radiometer-minirad.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The radiometer miniRAD from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research will determine the surface temperature using infrared measurements. In addition, it will allow conclusions to be drawn about the porosity of the surface material in order to compare it with asteroid and comet samples. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)In addition to the two DLR instruments, two cameras attached to the wheels to keep an eye on the wheels and the ground, as well as two cameras for navigation, will be installed at CNES in Toulouse over the next few months. The engineering teams are also installing the solar panels, the power system, the radio system for contact with Earth, and the on-board computer in the rover. Then, the complete rover will undergo extensive testing with regard to its functionality and its resistance to the vibrations of the rocket launch and the extreme temperature fluctuations of more than 200 degrees Celsius on Phobos. The MMX rover will complete the tests under space conditions together with the Mechanical and Electrical Connection and Support System (MECSS) to the spacecraft, which is also provided by DLR.<h2>Bringing a martian moon sample to Earth</h2>The MMX spacecraft consists of three modules. The exploration module has landing legs, samplers and some instruments as well as the MMX rover on board. The exploration module is connected to the return module with the sample return capsule, which in turn is connected to a propulsion module housing propellant tanks and rocket engines. The launch of the Japanese spacecraft is currently planned for 2024 with an H-3 rocket from the Japanese Space Center in Tanegashima. Approximately one year after leaving Earth, the probe will enter orbit around Mars in 2025 to observe Phobos and Deimos. This will be followed by a quasi-orbit around the martian moon Phobos, where it will collect scientific data, set down the MMX rover it carries and take a sample from the lunar surface. After taking the sample, the spacecraft will return to Earth with the material collected on Phobos. The landing of the MMX rover on Phobos is planned for 2027, and the return to Earth with the samples in 2029. The rover&#39;s measurements and images on the Phobos surface will also serve as a reference for the orbiter instruments and help prepare the landing of the exploration module for sampling.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1668515147660-integration-of-the-mmx-rover.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Integration of the MMX rover. Credit: &copy; DLR. All rights reserved<h2>The origin of fear and terror</h2>In Greek mythology, Phobos and Deimos were the companions of Ares, the god of war, who in Roman antiquity had his counterpart in Mars, the god of war. They were discovered in 1877 by the American astronomer Asaph Hall. Due to their small size (Phobos is 27 kilometres in diameter and Deimos 15 kilometres), both moons are irregularly shaped and resemble asteroids. Thus, one theory is that Mars simply captured the two moons in the past, possible in the asteroid belt. However, both moons orbit Mars near the ecliptic plane on which all planets and most of their moons move around the Sun. In addition, both orbits are almost circular. Such a coincidence would be difficult to account for under the &#39;captured asteroids&rsquo; theory. This could be explained if Phobos and Deimos were remnants of a huge meteorite impact on Mars. MMX aims to solve this long-discussed mystery of planetary science. The formation of the Mars system is also key to better understanding the processes of planet formation in the Solar System. In any case, traces of Martian rocks are likely to be found on the surface of Phobos, which landed on Phobos as ejecta from later asteroid impacts. This means that the samples from Phobos could also bring material from Mars to Earth in the return capsule and thus into terrestrial laboratories.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1668515034341-mars-with-its-moons-deimos-and-phobos.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Mars&#39; two moons, Deimos (above) and Phobos, are the targets of the MMX mission. Due to their small size (Phobos 27 kilometres, Deimos 15 kilometres), both moons are irregularly shaped. Their origin is still an unsolved mystery in planetary research. (image montage) Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)<hr>MMX &ndash; Martian Moons eXplorationMMX is a mission of the Japanese space agency JAXA with contributions from NASA, ESA, CNES (the French space agency) and DLR. CNES (Centre National d&#39;&Eacute;tudes Spatiales) and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f&uuml;r Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) are jointly contributing a 25-kilogram rover to the Martian Moons eXploration Mission (MMX). The Franco-German MMX rover is being designed and built under the joint leadership of CNES and DLR. In particular, DLR is responsible for the development of the rover&#39;s landing gear, including the lightweight body, as well as the entire uprighting and locomotion system. DLR is also contributing the connection adapter to the MMX spacecraft and providing a Raman spectrometer and a radiometer as scientific experiments. These will analyse the surface composition and texture on Phobos. CNES is making significant contributions with camera systems for spatial orientation and exploration on the surface, as well as for the study of mechanical soil properties. CNES is also developing the rover&#39;s central service module, including the on-board computer and the power and communications system. After the launch of the MMX mission, the rover will be operated by CNES control centres in Toulouse (France) and DLR in Cologne (Germany).For DLR, the institutes of System Dynamics and Control, Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems, of Space Systems, of Optical Sensor Systems, of Planetary Research, for Software Technology and the Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC) are also involved under the leadership of the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics.The MMX mission is a continuation of an already long-standing successful cooperation between JAXA, CNES and DLR. It builds on the previous mission <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/missions/mascot.html" target="_blank" title="MASCOT on board Hayabusa2">Hayabusa2</a>, in which JAXA sent a spacecraft to the asteroid Ryugu with the German-French MASCOT lander on board. <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/articles/news/2018/4/20181003_mascot-lands-safely-ruygu.html" target="_blank" title="MASCOT lands safely on asteroid Ryugu">On 3 October 2018, MASCOT landed on Ryugu</a> and sent spectacular images of a landscape ridden with boulders and rocks, and virtually no dust. Hayabusa2 collected samples from Ryugu and brought them to Earth on 6 December 2020.

The origin of Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, is still unclear. To unravel this mystery, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is scheduled to launch in 2024.

A rover for Mars' moon Phobos

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1669765825866000&usg=AOvVaw0adN1ijmCNIvr_GfjyI5jV" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a470d96e-2d6f-42ab-9aff-e52672c3e85a?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>The full article will continue below.<hr>From Lake Pontchartrain to the Texas border, Louisiana has lost enough wetlands since the mid-1950s to cover the entire state of Rhode Island. Using a first-of-its kind model, NASA-funded researchers quantified those wetlands losses at nearly 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) per year since the early 1980s.In the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG006794" target="_blank">new study</a>, scientists used the NASA/USGS <a href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">Landsat</a> satellite record to track shoreline changes across Louisiana from 1984 to 2020. Some of those wetlands were submerged by rising seas; others were disrupted by oil and gas infrastructure and hurricanes. But the primary driver of losses was coastal and river engineering, which can have positive or negative effects depending on how it is implemented.Centimeter by centimeter, wetlands are built by the slow accumulation &ndash; accretion &ndash; of mineral sediment and organic material carried by rivers and streams. Accretion makes new soil and counters erosion, the sinking of land, and the rise of sea level.Human intervention and engineering often hold back or divert the flow of sediments that naturally accrete to build and replenish wetlands. For instance, reinforced levees and thousands of miles of canals and excavated banks have isolated many wetlands from the Mississippi River and the network of streams that course through its delta like veins and capillaries. In a few cases, engineering projects have added sediment to delta areas and built new land.<a data-caption="The researchers mapped land change in coastal Louisiana from 1984 to 2020. Basins that failed to build new soil, such as Terrebonne and Barataria, experienced the most land loss – more than 180 square miles (466 square kilometers). Credit: Jensen et al. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences" data-fancybox="" data-src="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e1-wetlands_land_loss_map.jpeg" href="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e1-wetlands_land_loss_map.jpeg" target="_blank"></a><div data-v-47d42ddc=""><a data-caption='The researchers mapped land change in coastal Louisiana from 1984 to 2020. Basins that failed to build new soil, such as Terrebonne and Barataria, experienced the most land loss – more than 180 square miles (466 square kilometers). Credit: Jensen et al. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences' data-fancybox="" data-src="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e1-wetlands_land_loss_map.jpeg" href="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e1-wetlands_land_loss_map.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY4MTM4NTc4OTIwLWUxLXdldGxhbmRzX2xhbmRfbG9zc19tYXAud2lkdGgtMTMyMC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The researchers mapped land change in coastal Louisiana from 1984 to 2020. Basins that failed to build new soil, such as Terrebonne and Barataria, experienced the most land loss &ndash; more than 180 square miles (466 square kilometers). Credit: Jensen et al. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</a></div>By analyzing Landsat imagery with tools from cloud computing, the researchers developed a remote sensing model that focused on accretion or the lack of it. Basins that failed to build new soil, such as Terrebonne and Barataria, experienced the most land loss over the study period &ndash; more than 180 square miles (466 square kilometers). Other areas gained ground, including 33.6 square miles (87 square kilometers) of new land in the <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/WaxLake" target="_blank">Atchafalaya Basin</a> and 43 square miles (112 square kilometers) in the area known as the &ldquo;Bird&rsquo;s Foot Delta&rdquo; at the mouth of the Mississippi River.&ldquo;The Louisiana coastal system is highly engineered,&rdquo; said Daniel Jensen, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at NASA&rsquo;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. &ldquo;But the fact that ground has been gained in some places indicates that, with enough restoration efforts to reintroduce fresh water supply and sediment, we could see some wetland recovery in the future.&rdquo;Understanding wetland dieback and recovery is critically important because the Mississippi River Delta, like many of the world&rsquo;s deltas, drives local and national economies through farming, fisheries, tourism, and shipping. &ldquo;For the 350 million people who live and farm on deltas around the world, coastal wetlands provide a key link in the food chain,&rdquo; said JPL&rsquo;s Marc Simard, principal investigator of NASA&rsquo;s <a href="https://deltax.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">Delta-X</a> mission and co-author of the paper.<a data-caption="A map of soil accretion in coastal Louisiana showing higher buildup in parts of Atchafalaya and the “Bird’s Foot Delta,” where the Mississippi River system deposits mineral-rich sediment during flood periods. Credit: Jensen et al. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences" data-fancybox="" data-src="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e2-Wetlands_accretion_map.jpeg" href="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e2-Wetlands_accretion_map.jpeg" target="_blank"></a><div data-v-47d42ddc=""><a data-caption='A map of soil accretion in coastal Louisiana showing higher buildup in parts of Atchafalaya and the “Bird’s Foot Delta,” where the Mississippi River system deposits mineral-rich sediment during flood periods. Credit: Jensen et al. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences' data-fancybox="" data-src="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e2-Wetlands_accretion_map.jpeg" href="https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/e2-Wetlands_accretion_map.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY4MTM4NjIxNjUzLWUyLVdldGxhbmRzX2FjY3JldGlvbl9tYXAud2lkdGgtMTMyMC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A map of soil accretion in coastal Louisiana showing higher buildup in parts of Atchafalaya and the &ldquo;Bird&rsquo;s Foot Delta,&rdquo; where the Mississippi River system deposits mineral-rich sediment during flood periods. Credit: Jensen et al. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</a></div> In several airborne and field campaigns since 2016, the Delta-X research team has been studying the Mississippi River Delta, the seventh largest on Earth, using airborne sensing and field measurements of water, vegetation, and sediment changes in the face of rising sea level. The Landsat analysis builds on this airborne mission. Delta-X is part of NASA&rsquo;s Earth Venture Suborbital (EVS) program, managed at NASA&rsquo;s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.The new model by Jensen and colleagues is the first to directly estimate soil accretion rates in coastal wetlands using satellite data. Working with ground-based accretion records from Louisiana&rsquo;s Coastwide Reference Monitoring System, the scientists were able to estimate amounts of mineral sediment from water pixels in the Landsat imagery and organic material from the land pixels.The researchers said their approach could be applied beyond Louisiana because wetland loss and resiliency is a <a href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/article/landsat-reveals-dramatic-loss-of-global-wetlands-over-past-two-decades/" target="_blank">global phenomenon</a>. From the <a href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/article/where-the-wetlands-are/" target="_blank">Great Lakes</a> to the Nile Delta, the Amazon to Siberia, wetlands are found on every continent except Antarctica. And they are declining in most places. Wetlands were recently called some of the &ldquo;most vulnerable, most threatened, most valuable, and most diverse&rdquo; ecosystems on the planet, according to an international<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119536789.ch5" target="_blank">&nbsp;analysis</a> co-authored by NASA researchers.

A satellite image of the Mississippi River Delta with land shown in bright green and water shown in dark blue. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Michael Taylor and Adam Voiland, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

New research uses NASA satellite observations and advanced computing to chronicle wetlands lost (and found) around the globe.

Satellites Help Scientists Track Dramatic Wetlands Loss in Louisiana

Now, researchers have drawn inspiration from the art of origami to create programmable surfaces that allow engineers to alter physical properties of a uniform substance across a range of directions. In an <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.202270298" id="isPasted" target="_blank">article</a> published in the Oct. 26 issue of the journal Advanced Materials, the researchers described structures that are also programmable, so dimensions and corresponding properties can shift as needed. The researchers hope that designers will be able to apply the techniques to medical devices, architecture, robotics and aerospace.&nbsp;<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/763946476" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 426px;"></iframe>&ldquo;We have an almost infinite number of adjustments, which provide a rich design space,&rdquo; said <a href="https://engineering.princeton.edu/faculty/glaucio-paulino" target="_blank">Glaucio Paulino</a>, the Margareta Engman Augustine Professor of Engineering and one of the principal researchers. Paulino, a professor of <a href="https://cee.princeton.edu/" target="_blank">civil and environmental engineering</a> and the <a href="https://materials.princeton.edu/" target="_blank">Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials</a>, worked with colleagues from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Peking University, the University of Tokyo and the University of Trento on the project.To create the structures, the researchers began with cells of four kite-shaped figures known as rhombuses; each rhombus is connected to two others along two sides, with a tail end of each rhombus free. The connecting sides are hinged in some special ways, so each cell can click through a variety of forms, from a wide basket to thin folds. (See the corresponding video for more information.) The researchers combine many of these cells to create a wide range of surfaces.By adjusting cells, the researchers can change the properties of the entire surface: Among the options, they can vary compressibility, flexibility and density. Because individual cells are adjustable, the researchers can vary properties within the surface and can easily change and adjust the properties.&ldquo;Usually, a single origami pattern has one specific mechanical property,&rdquo; said Tomohiro Tachi, one of the researchers and a professor at the University of Tokyo. &ldquo;This structure can switch between multiple states that have distinct properties. It is a universal module for programming and reprogramming materials with versatile properties.&rdquo;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1667567538078-ezgif-5-b724cd5624.gif" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">By adjusting individual cells, the researchers can change the properties of the entire surface. Animation by Muza Productions&nbsp;Each cell demonstrates three stable states, meaning they will hold the position once clicked into it. This feature is useful for engineers seeking to use the origami patterns in applications because it allows for greater control of structures. It also allows designers to use the techniques without needing to add supports for the structures as their orientation changes. For example, a designer could adjust a series of cells to make a surface more flexible in one area and be confident that the cells would hold this position without requiring additional support.&ldquo;What we observed experimentally is a real tri-stable structure because the stable states can be determined by the &lsquo;click&rsquo; sound it emits when it snaps among the different configurations,&rdquo; said Diego Misseroni, a professor at the University of Trento and a member of the research team.The technique takes advantage of a phenomenon that physicists call frustration. In geometry, frustration is a feature that stops a pattern from propagating across a wide space &mdash; like a jagged rock in a snowfield. With the adjustable cells, the researchers can introduce frustration into structures. They use this to change the properties of the surface. They can do so over wide areas and small spots.&ldquo;A frustration is a kind of engineered defect, a defect by design,&rdquo; Paulino said. &ldquo;If a defect is arbitrary, it is usually bad. But if we can engineer it, we can use it in a way that is interesting.&rdquo;Co-researcher Ke Liu said he was pleased by the ability to turn a defect into an engineering advantage.&ldquo;A defect by design is no longer a defective flaw,&rdquo; said Liu, a professor at Peking University. &ldquo;In this work, we use the magic of origami to create a material whose defects can be programmed through geometric frustration.&rdquo;The researchers can use these engineered frustrations to precisely change the patterns of the surface. By changing the patterns, they can adjust the surface&rsquo;s properties.&ldquo;A frustration line changes the density, or the alignment, or the composition of the material. This changes the material&rsquo;s properties, and we can take advantage of that,&rdquo; Paulino said.Paulino said the researchers have used modeling and experimentation to demonstrate the use of the technique in one-dimensional and two-dimensional systems. He said the researchers are conducting further work to see how the technique works in three dimensions by stacking the cells as well as connecting them horizontally.The inspiration for the technique came from crystallography, Paulino said. Many important material properties are determined by the geometry of crystalline structures. Diamonds&rsquo; clarity and strength, for example, depend on regular configurations of carbon structures. Paulino and his colleagues wanted to explore whether they could use geometry to mimic those conditions in larger-scale materials.Phanisri Pratapa, one of the researchers and a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, said the researchers were encouraged by the results and eager to continue along this line of inquiry.&ldquo;The intriguing mechanisms exhibited by our folding material indicate the existence of more such mysteries in origami-based architected metamaterials that are yet to be unraveled,&rdquo; he said.The article, Triclinic metamaterials by tristable origami with reprogrammable frustration, was published Oct. 26 in the journal Advanced Materials with a front cover illustration. Support for the work was provided in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Peking University College of Engineering, the Indian Department of Science &amp; Technology, the European Commission, and the Japan Science and Technology Agency.

Springs, squeegees and soda straws function with a common property — they are rigid in one direction and flexible in another. Structures like these, with properties that vary across dimensions, have played critical roles in human technology from the longbow to the booster rocket.

These engineers drew inspiration from geometrical frustration

In this episode, we talk about NASA plans to crash land payloads on Mars to advance our understanding of the red planet. &nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/4f862e2f-7834-454a-962e-446b907908f2?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr>This podcast is sponsored by <a href="https://www.durolabs.co/?utm_source=Wevolver&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=the_next_byte" id="isPasted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Duro</a>.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1667371406726-eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY1NDI0NjIyNDYwLVVudGl0bGVkIGRlc2lnbi5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19.webp" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><hr><h3 id="isPasted">EPISODE NOTES</h3>(0:41) -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/why-nasa-is-trying-to-crash-land-on-mars" target="_blank">Why NASA Is Trying To Crash Land On Mars</a>Episode 94 was brought to you by Duro, the PLM platform behind some of Farbod &amp; Daniel&rsquo;s favorite hardware products!Click<a href="https://www.durolabs.co/?utm_source=Wevolver&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=the_next_byte" target="_blank">&nbsp;here</a> to learn more about Duro and<a href="https://www.durolabs.co/case-studies/gilmour-space-established-repeatable-processes-and-enhanced-collaboration-with-duro/" target="_blank">&nbsp;here</a> to check out the Gilmour Space case study discussed in this episode.<hr>As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.To learn more about this show, please visit our<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">&nbsp;shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published. Be sure to give us a follow and review on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;</a>podcasts,<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!

An illustration of SHIELD, a Mars lander concept that would allow lower-cost missions to reach the Red Planet’s surface by safely crash landing, using a collapsible base to absorb the impact. Credit: California Academy of Sciences

In this episode, we talk about NASA plans to crash land payloads on Mars to advance our understanding of the red planet. 

Podcast: NASA's Plan to Crash Land on Mars

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1667384234313000&usg=AOvVaw2bMX4Au_XbfV9ZhBGemTtR" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/4f862e2f-7834-454a-962e-446b907908f2?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-gtm-yt-inspected-11="true" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>The full article will continue below.<hr>NASA has successfully touched down on Mars nine times, relying on cutting-edge parachutes, massive airbags, and jetpacks to set spacecraft safely on the surface. Now engineers are testing whether or not the easiest way to get to the Martian surface is to crash.Rather than slow a spacecraft&rsquo;s high-speed descent, an experimental lander design called SHIELD (Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device) would use an accordion-like, collapsible base that acts like the crumple zone of a car and absorbs the energy of a hard impact.The new design could drastically reduce the cost of landing on Mars by simplifying the harrowing <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/entry-descent-landing/" target="_blank">entry, descent, and landing process</a> and expanding options for possible landing sites.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tkejVTkAnXc??list=PLTiv_XWHnOZpzQKYC6nLf6M9AuBbng_O8&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 426px;" data-gtm-yt-inspected-11="true" id="460245726" title="NASA Tests Ways to Crash Land on Mars"></iframe>SHIELD is a Mars lander concept that could allow lower-cost missions to visit the Martian surface by using an impact-absorbing, collapsible base to safely crash land. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech&ldquo;We think we could go to more treacherous areas, where we wouldn&rsquo;t want to risk trying to place a billion-dollar rover with our current landing systems,&rdquo; said SHIELD&rsquo;s project manager, Lou Giersch of NASA&rsquo;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. &ldquo;Maybe we could even land several of these at different difficult-to-access locations to build a network.&rdquo;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY2MzU3NjUwNjIxLTItUElBMjU0MjAtU0hJRUxEX1Byb3RvdHlwZV9BdHRhY2hlZF90b19Ecm9wXy53aWR0aC0xMzIwLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This prototype base for SHIELD &ndash; a collapsible Mars lander that would enable a spacecraft to intentionally crash land on the Red Planet, absorbing the impact &ndash; was tested in a drop tower at JPL on Aug. 12 to replicate the impact it would encounter landing on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech<h2 data-block-key="fnf8j">Car Crashes, Mars Landings</h2>Much of SHIELD&rsquo;s design borrows from work done for NASA&rsquo;s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/msr/" target="_blank">Mars Sample Return campaign</a>. The first step in that campaign involves the Perseverance rover <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/news/9261/nasas-perseverance-rover-investigates-geologically-rich-mars-terrain/" target="_blank">collecting rock samples in airtight metal tubes</a>; a future spacecraft will carry those samples back to Earth in a small capsule and safely crash land in a deserted location.Studying approaches for that process led engineers to wonder if the general idea was reversible, said Velibor Ćormarković, SHIELD team member at JPL.&ldquo;If you want to land something hard on Earth, why can&rsquo;t you do it the other way around for Mars?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And if we can do a hard landing on Mars, we know SHIELD could work on planets or moons with denser atmospheres.&rdquo;To test the theory, engineers needed to prove SHIELD can protect sensitive electronics during landing. The team used a drop tower at JPL to test how Perseverance&rsquo;s sample tubes would hold up in a hard Earth landing. Standing nearly 90 feet (27 meters), it features a giant sling &ndash; called a bow launch system &ndash; that can hurl an object into the surface at the same speeds reached during a Mars landing.Ćormarković previously worked for the auto industry, testing cars that carried crash dummies. In some of those tests, the cars ride on sleds that are accelerated to high speeds and crashed into a wall or deformable barrier. There are a number of ways to accelerate the sleds, including using a sling akin to the bow launch system.&ldquo;The tests we&rsquo;ve done for SHIELD are kind of like a vertical version of the sled tests,&rdquo; Ćormarković said. &ldquo;But instead of a wall, the sudden stop is due to an impact into the ground.&rdquo;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY2MzU3NjgyNzEyLTMtUElBMjU1ODEtSlBMX0Ryb3BfVG93ZXIud2lkdGgtMTMyMC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This drop tower at JPL includes a bow launch system, which can hurl test articles 110 mph into the ground, re-creating the forces they would experience during a Mars landing. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech<h2 data-block-key="6vgba">Smashing Success</h2>On Aug. 12, the team gathered at the drop tower with a full-size prototype of SHIELD&rsquo;s collapsible attenuator &ndash; an inverted pyramid of metal rings that absorb impact. They hung the attenuator on a grapple and inserted a smart phone, a radio, and an accelerometer to simulate the electronics a spacecraft would carry.Sweating in the summer heat, they watched SHIELD slowly rise to the top of the tower.&ldquo;Hearing the countdown gave me goose bumps,&rdquo; said Nathan Barba, another SHIELD project member at JPL. &ldquo;The whole team was excited to see if the objects inside the prototype would survive the impact.&rdquo;In just two seconds, the wait was over: The bow launcher slammed SHIELD into the ground at roughly 110 miles per hour (177 kilometers per hour). That&rsquo;s the speed a Mars lander reaches near the surface after being slowed by atmospheric drag from its initial speed of 14,500 miles per hour (23,335 kilometers per hour) when it enters the Mars atmosphere.Previous SHIELD tests used a dirt &ldquo;landing zone,&rdquo; but for this test, the team laid a steel plate 2 inches (5 centimeters) thick on the ground to create a landing harder than a spacecraft would experience on Mars. The onboard accelerometer later revealed SHIELD impacted with a force of about 1 million newtons &ndash; comparable to 112 tons smashing against it.High-speed camera footage of the test shows that SHIELD impacted at a slight angle, then bounced about 3.5 feet (1 meter) into the air before flipping over. The team suspects the steel plate caused the bounce, since no bounce occurred in the earlier tests.Upon opening the prototype and retrieving the simulated electronic payload, the team found the onboard devices &ndash; even the smart phone &ndash; survived.&ldquo;The only hardware that was damaged were some plastic components we weren&rsquo;t worried about,&rdquo; Giersch said. &ldquo;Overall, this test was a success!&rdquo;The next step? Designing the rest of a lander in 2023 and seeing just how far their concept can go.

Like a car’s crumple zone, the experimental SHIELD lander is designed to absorb a hard impact.

Why NASA Is Trying to Crash Land on Mars

End-to-end recycling solutions deliver the benefits of carbon fiber composites with a more circular approach.

Carbon Fiber Recycling: Accelerating Aerospace Circularity

Technologies have played a vital role to provide practical solutions to expensive and risky space projects. With the advent of more precise instruments and techniques, observations in more distant space regions are being enabled which could hold the key to understanding the origins of the universe.

Precision technologies are game changers for future space exploration

In this episode, we follow up on MIT + JPL’s experiment to make oxygen on Mars - MOXIE - that we first discussed in episode 5.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/be79ee4b-1b40-443f-9611-f957cc03833e?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr><h3 id="isPasted">EPISODE NOTES</h3>(0:50) - MOXIE Experiment Reliably Produces Oxygen On Mars🪐💨<hr>As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.To learn more about this show, please visit our<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">&nbsp;shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published. Be sure to give us a follow and review on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;</a>podcasts,<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!

In a study published today, researchers report that, by the end of 2021, the MIT-led MOXIE project was able to produce oxygen on seven experimental runs on the Red Planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In this episode, we follow up on MIT + JPL’s experiment to make oxygen on Mars - MOXIE - that we first discussed in episode 5.

Podcast: MOXIE Makes Oxygen On Mars

Recently Wevolver partner&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/facturee.the.online.manufacturer" target="_blank">FACTUREE</a> provided over 50 components to an ongoing space project called LUVMI, the Lunar Volatiles Mobile Instrumentation.<a href="https://www.h2020-luvmi-x.eu/" target="_blank">&nbsp;LUVMI</a> is a smart, modular, and scalable platform that can accommodate payloads and provide mobility on the moon and is being developed by Space Application Services&nbsp;NV/SA.The company specializes in system and software development, providing services for the European Space Agency (ESA), national space agencies, and the aerospace industry. They have headquarters in the Brussels region and a subsidiary, Aerospace Applications North America, in Houston. The company provides international solutions and technologies to advance areas such as spacecraft, earth observation, science and exploration, and communication.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YrdJ5O9nKak?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 435px;"></iframe>The mission of LUVMI is to search for water and other volatiles, scoping out the lunar environment in support of the establishment of a lunar economy and of future human missions to the Moon and beyond.LUVMI-X is the next phase of the LUVMI concept, which developed mobile instrumentation to analyse traces of volatiles in regions of the Moon in perpetual darkness. A mobile system comprising state of the art instruments and a robotic platform was designed, and a prototype was built and tested successfully.Building on the success of its predecessor, LUVMI-X &nbsp;focuses on the design of a mobile platform with standardised instrument interfaces, featuring cutting-edge payloads able to feature cutting-edge instruments able to analyse volatiles remotely, and others that measure radiation. The rover will have room for custom instruments that other scientists may wish to send to the Moon in the near future.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1663922104478-LUVMI_SpaceApps-1-1500x754.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Dr.-Ing. Torsten Siedel says, &ldquo;The LUVMI rover is suitable for use in the polar regions of the moon. Among other things, it can remotely deploy and recover cube payloads and explore volatile elements and other resources. FACTUREE has supplied over 50 components for the mobile platform, including prototypes.&rdquo;Space Applications Services highly prioritizes the aerospace sector, ensuring quality and reliable service for this sensitive area through initializing complex components for prototyping&mdash;also known as space qualification models.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1663922127893-IMG_2572-e1549645873800_1500x800_acf_cropped.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">&ldquo;We had to rethink our procurement approach for these components because the previous supplier no longer met our expectations in terms of reliable material quality, delivery times, and prices,&rdquo; Dr.-Ing. Torsten Siedel, Project Manager at Space Applications Services NV/SA, explains.&ldquo;We then conducted extensive research into suppliers and decided to collaborate with FACTUREE.&rdquo;The FACTUREE network extends to 2000 manufacturing partners, covering areas of CNC machining, metal processing, surface tech, and 3D printing.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1663922156227-5b7944_4ca987358f124f089c23bd4e8fd1b9eb_mv2_d_3264_2448_s_4_2.webp" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Engineers of the Space Applications Services send drawings with 3D data to FACTUREE, which generated a quote. Once placed and delivered, the ordered parts underwent quality checking at the Space Applications Services. We then implements reworking if necessary. We also selected the most suitable manufacturer and handled the entire process as it is the lone involved contract provider.&ldquo;FACTUREE has supplied us with high-quality CNC-machined parts for various applications and projects for more than two years now. In addition to the high quality, we appreciate the fast delivery times and attractive pricing. The professional, uncomplicated communication also allows us to solve problems quickly, again underscoring the reliability,&rdquo; shares Dr.-Ing. Torsten Siedel.

How an online manufacturer supplied over 50 components for the LUVMI lunar rover, a project of the Space Applications Services that specializes in space technology.

Space Applications Services procured components for a space project.

The laser that will be the most powerful in the United States is preparing to send its first pulses into an experimental target at the University of Michigan.&nbsp;Funded by the National Science Foundation, it will be a destination for researchers studying extreme plasmas around the U.S. and internationally.Called ZEUS, the Zetawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System, it will explore the physics of the quantum universe as well as outer space, and it is expected to contribute to new technologies in medicine, electronics and national security.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xDDV0EjCXLM?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 433px;"></iframe>&ldquo;ZEUS will be the highest peak power laser in the U.S. and among the most powerful laser systems in the world. We&rsquo;re looking forward to growing the research community and bringing in people with new ideas for experiments and applications,&rdquo; said <a href="https://ners.engin.umich.edu/people/krushelnick-karl/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Karl Krushelnick</a>, director of the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, which houses ZEUS, and the Henry J. Gomberg Collegiate Professor of Engineering.The first target area to get up and running is the high-repetition target area, which runs experiments with more frequent but lower power laser pulses. Michigan alum <a href="https://www.physics.uci.edu/people/franklin-dollar" target="_blank">Franklin Dollar</a> (M.Eng Electrical Engineering &rsquo;10, PhD Applied Physics &rsquo;12), an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California Irvine, is the first user, and his team is exploring a new kind of X-ray imaging.&nbsp;They will use ZEUS to send infrared laser pulses into a gas target of helium, turning it into plasma. That plasma accelerates electrons to high energies, and those electron beams then wiggle to produce very compact X-ray pulses.Dollar&rsquo;s team investigates how to make and use these new kinds of X-ray sources. Because soft tissues absorb X-rays at very similar rates, basic medical X-ray machines have to deliver high doses of radiation before they can distinguish between a tumor and healthy tissue, he said.But during his doctoral studies under Krushelnick, Dollar used ZEUS&rsquo;s predecessor to image a damselfly, showing the promise of laser-like X-ray pulses. Different soft tissues within the damselfly&rsquo;s carapace delayed X-rays to different degrees, creating interference patterns in the X-ray waves. Those patterns revealed the soft structures with very short X-ray pulses&mdash;a few millionths of a billionth of a second&mdash;and hence small X-ray doses.&ldquo;We could see every little organ as well as the tiny micro hairs on its leg,&rdquo; Dollar said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very exciting to think of how we could use these laser-like X-rays to do low-dose imaging, taking advantage of the fact that they&rsquo;re laser-like rather than having to rely on the absorption imaging of the past.&rdquo;In this first run, the ZEUS team is starting at a power of 30 terawatts (30 trillion watts), about 3% of the current most powerful lasers in the U.S. and 1% of ZEUS&rsquo;s eventual maximum power.&nbsp;&ldquo;During the experiment here, we&rsquo;ll put the first light through to the target chamber and develop towards that 300 terawatt level,&rdquo; said <a href="https://cuos.engin.umich.edu/researchgroups/hfs/profiles/john-nees/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">John Nees</a>, a research scientist in electrical and computer engineering.&nbsp;Nees leads the building of the laser alongside <a href="https://cuos.engin.umich.edu/researchgroups/hfs/profiles/anatoly-maksimchuk/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Anatoly Maksimchuk</a>, a research scientist in electrical and computer engineering, who leads the development of the experimental areas.Dollar&rsquo;s team plans to return late in the fall for another run, aiming for the full power intended for the high repetition target area, 500 terawatts. The maximum power of 3 petawatts, or quadrillion watts, will go to different target areas to be completed later. The first test using the target area for ZEUS&rsquo;s signature experiment is anticipated in 2023.That experiment will use the laser to generate a beam of high-speed electrons and then run the electrons directly into the laser pulses. For the electrons, that simulates a zetawatt laser pulse&mdash;a million times more powerful than ZEUS&rsquo;s 3 petawatts. In addition to probing the foundations of our understanding of the quantum universe, ZEUS will enable researchers to study what&rsquo;s going on inside some of the most extreme objects in space.&ldquo;Magnetars, which are neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields around them, and objects like active galactic nuclei surrounded by very hot plasma&mdash;we can recreate the microphysics of hot plasma in extremely strong fields in the laboratory,&rdquo; said <a href="https://willingale.engin.umich.edu/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Louise Willingale,</a> associate director of ZEUS and an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1663766147413-ZeusFL-content2.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Research engineer Galina Kalinchenko (left) and link scientist Andrew Mckelvey. Photo: Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering&nbsp;ZEUS offers not only scientific and technological opportunities, but with the discipline-wide effort to grow the laser physics workforce, it creates career opportunities as well. Dollar brought his whole team to get the hands-on experience of a commissioning experiment at a world-class laser.&ldquo;At Michigan Engineering, we&rsquo;re fortunate to have some of the strongest academic and research capabilities in the world, and we&rsquo;re leveraging that strength to improve the lives of real people. ZEUS exemplifies our commitment to fundamental science&mdash;using engineering to understand matter at its most basic levels and then using that knowledge to build solutions to real-world problems,&rdquo; said <a href="https://www.engin.umich.edu/culture/leadership/dean-alec-d-gallimore/" target="_blank">Alec D. Gallimore</a>, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1663766172494-ZeusFL-content3.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">From left: Link scientist Andrew Mckelvey, research engineer Galina Kalinchenko, laser engineer Lauren Weinberg and research scientist John Nees. Photo: Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering&nbsp;The first experiment milestone feels especially hard-earned because of the way the pandemic disrupted construction early on, when the team was still reconfiguring the building to accommodate a much larger laser. Project manager&nbsp;<a href="https://zeus.engin.umich.edu/franko-bayer/" target="_blank">Franko Bayer</a> reconsidered the schedules, identifying work that could be done in parallel rather than in sequence, to keep as close as possible to the initial timelines.&ldquo;Our team at ZEUS is very excited that our hard work paid off, and despite all the post-pandemic equipment delivery delays, we are on schedule to our original timeline. &nbsp;This experiment is the beginning to gradually ramp up the power until full commissioning in the fall of 2023,&rdquo; Bayer said.Krushelnick is also a professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences and electrical and computer engineering. Gallimore is also the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor of Engineering, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and a professor of aerospace engineering.

Laser engineer Lauren Weinberg, research scientist John Nees and research engineer Galina Kalinchenko working on the ZEUS laser. Photo: Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering

The ZEUS laser at the University of Michigan has begun its commissioning experiments

First light soon at the most powerful laser in the US

When you ask people to name a few cutting-edge technologies, they&rsquo;ll probably mention artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, perhaps synthetic biology&hellip; but probably not welding.But while welding usually doesn&rsquo;t make front page headlines, it has many interesting facets. It involves materials science, robotics, metallurgy, and, yes, machine learning. And you need welding for making all kinds of things: buildings, for example; bicycles, ships, aircraft, cars, kitchenware, power plants, turbines, body implants, textiles&ndash;and rockets (more on that later).I wrote about some welding technologies back in 2020 already, in <a href="https://mergeflow.com/research/10-innovative-welding-technologies" rel="noopener" target="_blank">this blog post</a>:<a href="https://mergeflow.com/research/10-innovative-welding-technologies" rel="noopener" target="_blank">10 welding technologies at the edge of the possible &ndash;</a><a href="https://mergeflow.com/research/10-innovative-welding-technologies" rel="noopener" target="_blank">&gt;</a>And I used welding as an example in our <a href="https://mergeflow.com/tech-discovery-for-innovators-video-course" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Tech Discovery for Innovators video course</a>:<a href="https://mergeflow.com/360-view-on-a-topic" rel="noopener" target="_blank">How to get a 360&deg; view on a topic -&gt;</a>What&rsquo;s new in welding? What does welding have to do with machine learning? And why do we need welding for going to the moon?Let&rsquo;s look at each question in turn.<h2 id="isPasted">What&rsquo;s new in welding (since 2020 when I last checked)?</h2>The welding technologies article I mentioned above is from 2020.So you can easily see what happened since then, I made a <a href="https://mergeflow.net/report?key=6e3c22f7-f620-873f-6976-24a23bb2a23a" target="_blank">data snapshot from Mergeflow</a> with venture investments, patents, market estimates, scientific publications, news, etc since then. <a href="https://mergeflow.net/report?key=6e3c22f7-f620-873f-6976-24a23bb2a23a" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">To see the snapshot, click here</a>. <img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYxOTcwMDg0MDk2LU1lcmdlZmxvdy0zNjAtcmVwb3J0LXdlbGRpbmctdGVjaC1zaW5jZS0wNC0yMDIwLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 612px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">So you can zoom in more on some of the data, venture capital fundings, I made a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H66wV8fTU1MxY1Wn18pINHv48hPsfwgdVyYKcWu2lgI/edit?usp=sharing" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Google Sheet with more details</a>: <img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYxOTcwMTUxMTQyLU1lcmdlZmxvdy1kYXRhLXdlbGRpbmctdmVudHVyZS1jYXBpdGFsLWdvb2dsZS1zaGVldC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 753px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Are you curious and would like to explore more?<a href="https://mergeflow.net/signup" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Sign up for a 14-day free Mergeflow trial -&gt;</a><h2 id="isPasted">Welding and machine learning</h2>What does machine learning have to do with welding? Among other things, machine learning can be used to predict the optimal welding parameters to use for a given material and welding application. This can help to improve the quality of the weld, and reduce the time and cost of the welding process.Here is an <a href="https://mergeflow.net/report?key=74ef4c0b-19c6-7b7a-aa5f-5f262b2b533e" rel="noopener" target="_blank">interactive data snapshot from Mergeflow</a>:<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYxOTcwMjI0MTkwLU1lcmdlZmxvdy1kYXRhLXNuYXBzaG90LXdlbGRpbmctYW5kLW1hY2hpbmUtbGVhcm5pbmcucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 644px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">As you can see, for example, patenting activity in the area has gone up considerably (-&gt; red arrow in the screenshot). And, probably not surprisingly, <a href="https://mergeflow.net/profiles/fw/search/summary?q=%223d+printing%22%7c%223d+printer%22%7c%22additive+manufacturing%22%7c%22additive+layer+manufacturing%22%7c%22additive+fabrication%22%7c%223d+printers%22&date=default3" id="isPasted" rel="noopener" target="_blank">3D printing</a> and <a href="https://mergeflow.net/profiles/fw/search/summary?q=%22machine+vision%22%7c%22computer+vision%22%7c%22digital+image+processing%22&date=default3" rel="noopener" target="_blank">machine vision</a> are among the most relevant applications that are discussed in science publications.<h2 id="isPasted">What does welding have to do with going to the Moon?</h2>It&rsquo;s end of August 2022. Like many other people, I&rsquo;m excited about the upcoming first launch of the new <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Artemis rocket</a>.The Artemis rocket has a massive liquid hydrogen tank. And for the manufacture of this tank, or rocket parts more generally, welding technologies play a central role.I didn&rsquo;t know just how difficult and sophisticated this is until I watched <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destin_Sandlin" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Destin Sandlin</a>&lsquo;s great <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0fG_lnVhHw&t=15s&ab_channel=SmarterEveryDay" rel="noopener" target="_blank">video about how rockets are made</a>.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o0fG_lnVhHw?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> <a href="https://mergeflow.net/report?key=b5d13b9a-5362-ba14-6969-d2698cb43aef" rel="noopener" target="_blank">See a Mergeflow data snapshot on friction stir welding -&gt;</a>In fact, it was Destin&rsquo;s video that prompted me to look deeper into welding technologies back in April 2020, when I wrote <a href="https://mergeflow.com/research/10-innovative-welding-technologies" rel="noopener" target="_blank">my first article about welding</a>.I made another Mergeflow data snapshot, this one on <a href="https://mergeflow.net/report?key=281a2cb6-93d0-00fd-50f1-a46a77e65971" target="_blank">welding in the context of spacecraft</a>, <a href="https://mergeflow.net/report?key=281a2cb6-93d0-00fd-50f1-a46a77e65971" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">which you can see by clicking here</a>.Just to highlight some findings from this (my personal selection, yours might be different):<a href="https://phys.org/news/2022-07-supramolecular-adhesive-usable-temperature-range.html" target="_blank">Supramolecular adhesive with usable temperature range of 400 degrees Celsius</a>: Welding by opposing molecular charges. The high temperature range could be useful for making spacecraft parts.<a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjce-2021-0098?af=R" target="_blank">Leveraging in situ resources for lunar base construction</a>: Welding, but on the moon.<a href="https://idw-online.de/de/news765824" target="_blank">Strong weld joints for aerospace applications</a>: Using positrons to improve the efficiency of <a href="https://mergeflow.net/report?key=b5d13b9a-5362-ba14-6969-d2698cb43aef" target="_blank">friction stir welding</a>.

SLS Liquid Oxygen Tank Hardware in Welding. NASA/Michoud/Steve Seipel, from Wikimedia Commons.

When you ask people to name a few cutting-edge technologies, they’ll probably mention artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, perhaps synthetic biology… but probably not welding.

Welding: What's new? And what does it have to do with going to the Moon?

<h2>A docuseries made for engineers</h2>Space calls us: because of its tremendous opportunities, our curiosity and drive to explore, and because humanity might one day need to inhabit space to survive. Previously, space exploration and technology were the realm of government agencies and huge companies. But space is being democratized and increasingly accessible to anyone with ambition.&#39;Engineering Space&#39; is documenting and showcasing current space technologies and the organizations and engineers behind them. The project&#39;s mission is to inform &amp; inspire engineers, and to show that starting a career or startup in the space industry has nowadays become possible.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYxMDc5ODc2NjQ3LUJlaGluZC10aGUtc2NlbmVzIDAxIDA2IChzbWFsbCkuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Image: Flipbird Films<h2>Meet the team</h2>Engineering Space is a collaboration between engineering community platform Wevolver, and two independent Californian film makers and producers.Flipbird Films&nbsp;is a creative production agency dedicated to the craft of storytelling. Flipbird&rsquo;s vision is to create bold, cinematic, and authentic content that inspires and moves people. Their mission is to diversify the narrative and tell stories that matter in ways never done before.Green Run Productions&nbsp;is a creative film production company that was founded to make amazing, humanity pushing content. Every Green Run Production project makes their audience&rsquo;s worlds&rsquo; bigger - because the audience felt, learned, or lived something new.Wevolver is a platform where the engineering community and industry connect around deeply informative content: On the platform, companies, universities, and individual engineers publish blog articles, videos, reports, and podcasts about current technologies. Engineers use Wevolver to stay up to date, find knowledge, and connect.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYxMDg0OTc5ODQ5LUxvZ29zLTAxLTAyLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2>You can be part of this </h2>As a living, ongoing documentary series the project is always looking for subjects to investigate and showcase. Is your team working on a meaningful innovation? Let us know via the form below.We are also open for additional sponsors who care about getting exposure in the aerospace field and the wider space-interested engineering community and who want to make this project possible. <iframe src="https://c8056756.sibforms.com/serve/MUIEALOpe15jGqAdMh3FfYAgZfh0NuvIn5B77lMX6nahlWoBLH7FUPc2cYgkRoR3wZFUp8EH0IlJF5P_lBS6ycuoliCHvKoK0kPKoxN1DYcG9dG4fakG0BP66pk9AQ4tyBFGt9IWcGiKk6e2G2B6jvYa0bdcKAPc6wSI48-OYKx6Gn2_ZTl7vbAL6I2GLXeDMDGfoh8fDkSoKmoV" scrolling="auto" allowfullscreen="" style="display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;max-width: 100%;" class="fr-draggable" width="540" height="305" frameborder="0"></iframe>

The docuseries that is exposing the incredible innovations which new space companies are developing.

Engineering Space

As NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the Moon to live and explore, capabilities for space-based manufacturing of sensors, circuits, and other electronics will become increasingly critical. Recent microgravity flights have helped to advance cutting-edge methods for 3D printing of electronics by teams from San Jose, California-based Space Foundry and Iowa State University in Ames, supported by NASA&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/index.html" target="_blank">Flight Opportunities</a> and <a href="https://sbir.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">Small Business Innovation Research</a> (SBIR) programs.A vast range of future scenarios could benefit from electronics printed in space &ndash; from radiation sensors printed onto the walls of lunar habitats, to printing solar panels on the Moon&rsquo;s surface, to gas and biosensors for use on the International Space Station. The capability to print electroinics in space is critical to the NASA mission and testing the ability to print electorincs in microgravity on Earth first is an important step in the maturation of technology.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1660638534623-zerog_printed_pattern_web_spacefoundry.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Space Foundry printed electrodes that could be used in space-based biological and chemical sensors on parabolic flights in Nov. and Dec. 2021 and June 2022. Credits: Space Foundry&ldquo;In terms of electronics, there are so many critical needs for which we must enable reliable in-space manufacturing, because we simply cannot anticipate and carry with us all of the sensors and circuits that we might need for a given mission,&rdquo; said Curtis Hill, senior materials engineer at NASA&rsquo;s Marshall Space Flight Center and principal investigator for NASA&rsquo;s On-Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) project, part of the agency&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/game_changing_development/index.html" target="_blank">Game Changing Development</a> program. ODME will select electronics manufacturing technologies among systems from Space Foundry, Iowa State, and other organizations for 2024 demonstrations on the space station.But first, the innovations are being tested on parabolic flights. These flights take place on modified airplanes that perform a series of maneuvers called parabolas, resulting in brief intervals of reduced and zero gravity. &nbsp;&ldquo;Technology maturation is done in steps, and a very important step is parabolic flights and the microgravity testing they provide,&rdquo; said Hill. &ldquo;These flights help us take technologies to higher <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/engineering/technology/technology_readiness_level" target="_blank">technology readiness levels</a> and allow us to evaluate them for potential infusion in lunar and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/gateway" target="_blank">Gateway</a> missions, among others.&rdquo;Parabolic flights from Zero Gravity Corporation in late 2021 and June 2022 enabled Space Foundry researchers to test a <a href="https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Plasma-Improves-3D-Electronics-Printing" target="_blank">system licensed from NASA&rsquo;s Ames Research Center</a> designed for high-throughput plasma jet printing of conductive metal inks. The process addresses challenges of space-based 3D printing, including the time-consuming curing processes that most methods require. By contrast, Space Foundry&rsquo;s process leverages a single-step approach that doesn&rsquo;t require heat or ultraviolet curing. These advantages could lessen impact on astronauts&rsquo; time, lower costs, and improve the versatility of printing electronics for a wide range of applications. &nbsp;&ldquo;A single-step process is ideal, especially when printing electronics for large structures in space,&rdquo; said Dr. Ram Prasad Gandhiraman, founder and CEO of Space Foundry and former research scientist at NASA Ames, where he led the technology&rsquo;s initial development. &ldquo;For example, if you wanted to print sensors on an aircraft wing, having a single-step process could allow for simplified printing directly on the structure, without removing it for more complicated, multi-step curing.&rdquo;November 2021 parabolic flights proved instrumental in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/small-business-gets-an-assist-from-nasa-problem-solvers" target="_blank">helping Space Foundry work out some hardware glitches</a> and fix them between successive flights over multiple days. That troubleshooting led to successful printing of silver electrodes and a Wi-Fi antenna during December 2021 flights, and allowed the company to take their work further.&ldquo;After resolving hardware challenges and a successful demonstration printing silver, we were keen to print copper as well,&rdquo; said Dr. Gandhiraman.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SoyvVvtJxx0?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 436px;"></iframe>View a recent NASA webinar for insights from Iowa State&rsquo;s Dr. Hantang Qin and NASA ODME&rsquo;s Curtis Hill on testing technologies for in-space manufacturing of electronics on suborbital flights.&nbsp;Dr. Gandhiraman noted that copper is beneficial for space-based electronics because it is highly conductive, and they wanted to try printing copper with a Space Foundry-developed ink designed to overcome the shelf-life concerns of other off-the-shelf inks. During two flights in June 2022, the company successfully used the proprietary ink to print a copper electrode.Recent flights also provided testing for Iowa State&rsquo;s system for electrohydrodynamic inkjet printing, which addresses another challenge of space-based 3D printing: lack of gravity needed to drive the flow of liquid inks. The university&rsquo;s system leverages electrical force to drive ink flow, replacing the need for gravity to accomplish this task.The team&rsquo;s first printer was flown in Dec. 2021 and successfully printed microelectronics including a humidity sensor &ndash; but the team found the system to be less stable and robust than they expected. They made key upgrades, including increased process automation and modification of the inks to withstand vibration, and flew the new hardware successfully in May 2022.&ldquo;My impression of these flights is that they are full of challenges, especially the first flights when you don&rsquo;t know exactly what will happen,&rdquo; said Iowa State&rsquo;s Dr. Hantang Qin, principal investigator for the project. &ldquo;Flying multiple times, we resolved the challenges and improved the technology to show that it is ready to integrate with other printing platforms.&rdquo;As ODME tracks the progress of these electronics printing methods, Hill said that parabolic flight testing is key to helping NASA understand the best electronics applications for each printing method.&ldquo;As results come in, we start to see how the specific materials respond to microgravity, and we are able to identify which methods match up best with various uses in space. This will ultimately help us prepare for demonstration of specific capabilities on the station,&rdquo; said Hill.Flight Opportunities, SBIR, and Game Changing Development are part of NASA&#39;s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Space Foundry CEO and co-founder Dr. Ram Prasad Gandhiraman (left) and CTO and co-founder Dr. Dennis Nordlund operate the company’s plasma jet printing of electronics experiment in microgravity on a parabolic flight in December 2021 Credits: Zero Gravity Corporation/Steve Boxall

As NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the Moon to live and explore, capabilities for space-based manufacturing of sensors, circuits, and other electronics will become increasingly critical. Recent microgravity flights have helped to advance cutting-edge methods for 3D printing of electronics

Microgravity Testing Advances Space-Based Printing of Electronics

Last year, the launch date of the much-awaited James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was moved from the 23rd to the 25th of December due to a risk of collision with a piece of space debris, according to the European Space Agency (ESA) launcher directorate. That space debris was able to delay the launch of a multi-billion-dollar telescope attests to how big of a problem the proliferation of space debris has become.The rapid growth of space industry brings many benefits to us all down there on Earth. But decades of unsustainable practices have led to congested orbits, and accelerated proliferation of space debris posing a major risk to satellites, space exploration and other scientific missions. And the problem is only growing. Currently, there are over one million objects larger than 1 cm orbiting the Earth, and more than 60,000 satellites are planned to be launched in the next decade &ndash; putting the capacity of Earth orbit to safely accommodate new space objects at risk.It is therefore of dire importance that space actors plan the most sustainable missions possible for the long-term use of the space environment. To help incentivise these space operators, a consortium including the World Economic Forum (WEF), ESA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), BryceTech, and the University of Texas at Austin developed the Space Sustainability Rating (SSR), which eSpace was chosen to host in 2021.The SSR is a voluntary rating system providing space actors with a simple and impactful instrument for space actors to measure sustainability design and actions comprehensively, capturing the different mission&rsquo;s elements and using a series of recognised and tested metrics.&ldquo;As of today, there is no shared definition of what sustainable behaviour in space means globally, and quantifying, assessing, and verifying international guidelines for space sustainability remains challenging,&rdquo; says Minoo Rathnasabapathy, Research Engineer, Space Enabled Research Group at MIT and SSR ambassador. &ldquo;The SSR helps bridge this gap by offering an original and hands-on framework for space operators to evaluate the sustainability level of their missions.&rdquo;By engaging with the SSR, satellite and spacecraft manufacturers can obtain transparent and data-based assessments of the level of sustainability of space missions, providing a clear picture of where their missions and operations stand in terms of sustainability, identify areas where improvements can be made, and publicly share the rating&rsquo;s outcomes.&ldquo;Incentivising better behaviour by having space actors compete on sustainability will create a race to the top,&rdquo; Nikolai Khlystov of the World Economic Forum said of the SSR&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/impact/world-s-first-space-sustainability-rating-launched" rel="noopener" target="_blank">in 2021</a>.The six-year development process of the SSR involved a number of operators, including SpaceX, Planet, the EPFL Spacecraft Team, OneWeb, Axelspace, and Airbus in the beta-testing phase to ensure the tool&rsquo;s accuracy and practicability from a user perspective.The launch at the Space Sustainability Summit hosted by the Secure World Foundation and the UK Space Agency in June offered an opportunity to showcase the impactful approach and methodology, as demonstrated by the presentation of the first official rating to Stellar, a telecommunications company and founding member of the SSR.&ldquo;Innovative, collaborative, and practical solutions will be critical to the safety of current and future space missions and infrastructure we depend on,&rdquo; says Florian Micco, Project Manager for the Space Sustainability Rating. &ldquo;The SSR aims to serve as an impactful incentive to guide space actors&rsquo; efforts in improving their overall sustainability. eSpace&rsquo;s expertise and network will help to grow the SSR and leverage best practices for more sustainable, responsible, and safer behaviours in space.&rdquo;<h2>Incentivising sustainable behaviour</h2>Developed by members of the consortium who are experts in the fields of space debris, astrodynamics, technology policy, and space economics, the SSR rates missions relying on modules to evaluate their level of potential harmful physical interference, their collision avoidance process, how they share data, how their design will allow observers to track the object(s), the compliance with international standards, and their willingness and ability to receive external services.Participating space operators in the SSR are given a &ldquo;bronze&rdquo;, &ldquo;silver&rdquo;, &ldquo;gold&rdquo;, or &ldquo;platinum&rdquo; badge depending on the outcomes of a comprehensive assessment process based on six modules. Then a second score is calculated that allows operators to earn additional credits for going over and above the baseline rating. These bonuses are reported separately and do not contribute to the baseline rating, but is an honourable mention represented by stars. For example, for the first official rating, Stellar received a bronze badge with one star. Operators can then share these ratings, making it in their best interest to plan the most sustainable missions possible.&ldquo;We are honoured to have received the first Space Sustainability Rating,&rdquo; says Damien Garot, the CEO of Stellar, &ldquo;as sustainability is essential, on Earth and in space. And we will continue to work with the SSR association to improve the sustainability of our missions.&rdquo;Along with the rating itself, the SSR also provides a detailed report about steps operators could take to raise their ratings, such as changes to their spacecraft design or further information that they could share.&ldquo;The Space Sustainability Rating could be a game changer in the way space missions are carried out,&rdquo; says Jean-Paul Kneib, Academic Director of eSpace.<h2>An inclusive platform for practical collaboration</h2>The objective of the SSR is to establish itself as a non-profit organization to guarantee the rating system&rsquo;s independence and fairness, as well as to collaborate with all stakeholders from the space sector. Over the past year, the SSR has received financial support from the Swiss Space Office. In the future, the SSR aims to generate enough revenue to cover operation costs, lead research to enhance its approach, and grow the rating through operators paying for ratings and membership fees.Luckily the demand for the SSR &ndash; unique in its kind &ndash; is gaining traction. Stellar and Nihon University in Japan, who will head the development of a regional-hub for the SSR in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, joined as founding members in the first quarter of 2022. And in the weeks ahead of the launch, ALTER group, EnduroSat, Privateer, the Secure World Foundation and Slingshot Aerospace joined as members as well, and are providing the SSR with important expertise to enhance the rating system and ensure its relevance and accuracy.&ldquo;Fast growth in the space sector is only possible if done sustainably,&rdquo; says Raycho Raychev, the Founder and CEO of EnduroSat. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why we are proud to join this unique international effort to advance sustainability in orbit.&rdquo;<h2>EPFL as a leader in space sustainability</h2>In the past few years, EPFL has become a leader in space safety and dealing with the issue of space debris. In May, two EPFL centers, eSpace and the International Risk Governance Center (IGRC), helped host the&nbsp;<a href="https://actu.epfl.ch/news/first-kinetic-space-safety-workshop-hosted-at-ep-2" target="_blank">first Kinetic Space Safety Workshop</a>. These two centers have been also been working together on the issue along with EPFL Space Innovation since 2020, including on two IRGC publications,&nbsp;<a data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" href="https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/285976/files/IRGC%20%282021%29.%20Collision%20risk%20from%20space%20debris%20-%20Current%20status%2C%20challenges%20and%20response%20strategies.pdf" target="_blank">Collision risk from space debris: Current status, challenges and response strategies</a> and&nbsp;<a data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" href="https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/290171/files/IRGC%20%282021%29.%20Policy%20options%20to%20address%20collision%20risk%20from%20space%20debris.pdf" target="_blank">Policy options to address collision risk from space debris</a>.&nbsp;eSpace&rsquo;s work on space debris is part of the center&rsquo;s ongoing research initiative on&nbsp;<a href="https://espace.epfl.ch/research/ssl/" target="_blank">Sustainable Space Logistics</a>, in partnership with Space Innovation.EPFL is also coordinating&nbsp;<a href="https://skach.org/2021/12/02/epfl-joins-the-giant-radio-telescope-ska-for-the-swiss-community/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Switzerland&rsquo;s participation</a> in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be the biggest radio telescope ever built. This telescope will allow researchers to study some of the universe&rsquo;s greatest mysteries with an unprecedented level of precision. SKA, and the Swiss consortium SKACH, are also focused on sustainability by building the telescopes in remote locations, working with local and indigenous populations, and working to ensure dark and quiet skies to keep the night sky a sustainable resource for all.&ldquo;With the launch of the Space Sustainability Rating and Switzerland joining the SKA, we at EPFL are further solidifying our position as leaders in making space a more sustainable place to operate,&rdquo; says Kneib. &ldquo;For those of us working in the space field, it is our job to help ensure space is kept safe for the next generations.

The new Space Sustainability Rating hosted at eSpace, the EPFL Space Center, encourages space actors to design and implement sustainable and responsible space missions – trailblazing the path to ensure the long-term sustainability of the space environment.

A new rating for space sustainability

James Webb Space Telescope aims to take us to the unexplored realm of our cosmic origins. From observing the formation of the first stars and galaxies to looking for the possibility of life on other planets, the telescope will play a major role in the future of space exploration.

Space

Technical Guides

James Webb Space Telescope Science Instruments Explained