Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Generative Design

An instrument optical bench developed with Evolved Structures technology.
An instrument optical bench developed with Evolved Structures technology.

Enhancing structural performance for future space missions.

The Goddard Flight Facility Center’s Evolved Structures technology uses generative design and digital manufacturing to automate and optimize development of spacecraft and science instrument structures, improving structure performance by 3x and reducing development time/cost by 10x in support of NASA’s ambitious missions.   

NASA Turns to AI to Design Mission Hardware

Hardware designed by AI may resemble alien bones, but they weigh less, tolerate more stress, and require a fraction of the time parts designed by humans take to develop.

Spacecraft and mission hardware designed by an artificial intelligence may resemble bones left by some alien species, but they weigh less, tolerate higher structural loads, and require a fraction of the time parts designed by humans take to develop.

“They look somewhat alien and weird,” Research Engineer Ryan McClelland said, “but once you see them in function, it really makes sense.”

McClelland pioneered the design of specialized, one-off parts using commercially available AI software at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, producing hardware he has dubbed evolved structures.

To create these parts, a computer-assisted design (CAD) specialist starts with the mission’s requirements and draws in the surfaces where the part connects to the instrument or spacecraft – as well any bolts and fittings for electronics and other hardware. The designer might also need to block out a path so that the algorithm doesn’t block a laser beam or optical sensor. Finally, more complex builds might require spaces for technicians’ hands to maneuver for assembly and alignment.

Once all off-limits areas are defined, the AI connects the dots, McClelland said, producing complex structure designs in as little as an hour or two. “The algorithms do need a human eye,” he said. “Human intuition knows what looks right, but left to itself, the algorithm can sometimes make structures too thin.”

An aluminum scaffold for the back of the EXCITE telescope, which is planned to make a test flight as early as Fall of 2023. The curved, criss-crossed reinforcing structures were designed to resist significant off-centered forces. Credit: NASA / Henry Dennis
An aluminum scaffold for the back of the EXCITE telescope, which is planned to make a test flight as early as Fall of 2023. The curved, criss-crossed reinforcing structures were designed to resist significant off-centered forces. Credit: NASA / Henry Dennis

These evolved structures save up to two-thirds of the weight compared to traditional components, he said, and can be milled by commercial vendors. “You can perform the design, analysis and fabrication of a prototype part, and have it in hand in as little as one week,” McClelland said. “It can be radically fast compared with how we’re used to working.”

Parts are also analyzed using NASA-standard validation software and processes to identify potential points of failure, McClelland said. “We found it actually lowers risk. After these stress analyses, we find the parts generated by the algorithm don’t have the stress concentrations that you have with human designs. The stress factors are almost ten times lower than parts produced by an expert human.”

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Generative Design is managed by ETD’s Instrument Systems and Technology Division (ISTD). Contact ISTD for more information.