Here's AI's Best Guess at a 3D-Printed Lander for Saturn and Jupiter's Moons



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When it comes to exploring the planets and other bodies of our solar system by landing on them, there's a lot that works twice. Planets and moons throughout the sun, different gravity, and all spells of other specific and challenging features. In exploring the possibilities, NASA has partnered with 3D design software company Autodesk to build prototype versions of Saturn and Jupiter's potential landers for the moons.

"They were clear that they were not interested in incremental earnings," says Mark Davis, senior director of industry research at Autodesk, speaking about the collaboration in a press statement. could be "the most complicated structure ever created using generative design," according to Davis.

autodesk university lander

The lander of full display at an Autodesk conference in Las Vegas.

Autodesk

Some levels, the tech industry and the spaceflight industry have fundamentally different attitudes towards experimentation. While tech company might be able to afford to fail and learn from their mistakes going forward, it's rarely a chance to fix a mistake it's been feeling beyond the Earth's atmosphere. NASA has expressed its interest in 3D printing recently.

For the potential lander, Autodesk used machine learning to do what 3D printing can do best-find and eliminate it, with a focus on using generic design for internal structures. lander's legs to the payload.

autodesk space lander close up cnc milling

A close up of the lander in its early stages.

Autodesk

Moons like Enceladus and Europa have long been on the wishlist of eager astronomers looking for exploration. Research from this year has suggested that Enceladus in particular has strong potential for life, with microorganisms clinging to the surface of its sea floor.

Given how different from a mission to Enceladus would be compared to a mission to Mars, it only makes sense that the lander would be different.

Source: The Verge

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