Protolabs serves as quick-turn collaborator in NASA generative design project

In coordination with digital manufacturing leader Protolabs, engineers at NASA recently showcased the power of their AI-driven design tool at the PowerSource Global Summit, an annual conference bringing together technology leaders across disciplines. On the first day of the conference, NASA engineers challenged attendees to provide inputs for generative design to create a prototype apparatus for collecting gas samples released by sunlight hitting the moon as part of NASA’s ongoing Artemis moon exploration missions. The crowdsourced constraints defined desired traits of the sample collection container like modularity, stack-ability, scalability, and how a person or robot would interact with the device. Simultaneously, the geometries and part qualities identified had to ensure the part was machinable while maintaining strict size requirements. NASA’s generative design software then produced a CAD file based on those constraints that was ready for machining in Protolabs’ digital factory that evening. The goal was to deliver the part by the conference’s wrap-up two days later. “For this demonstration to be successful, we knew that any manufacturer we went with (to make the part), needed to deliver the part we ordered on-time, there was no room for error or delay,” said Matthew Vaerewyck, a mechanical engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Protolabs was uniquely positioned to achieve this feat for NASA, as the only digital manufacturer in the world that combines the digital thread with speed, reliability, and quality.