AnalySwift, a Purdue University-affiliated engineering software company, has received an $899,738 Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award from NASA to develop robotic technology for welding and unwelding thermoplastic composite structures in space.
The two-year project is intended to address a major challenge for long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond: the cost and physical constraints associated with transporting large infrastructure from Earth. By enabling structures to be disassembled, reconfigured and reused, the technology could reduce the need to launch new construction materials and overcome spacecraft launch-fairing limitations.
Allan Wood, president and CEO of AnalySwift, said the activity will focus on enabling disassembly and reassembly of large truss structures through thermoplastic composite joints.
“This capability allows the repurposing of spacecraft components for other missions, achieving multiuse structures and assembling large structures without the limit of launch-fairing dimensions,” he said.
The project combines composite materials development, robotics and simulation. Its objectives include developing thermoplastic composite joints incorporating embedded resistance heaters, building robotic manipulators for welding and unwelding, demonstrating robotic disassembly and reassembly of a prototype truss, and assessing the feasibility of repurposing full-scale structures.
Kawai Kwok, associate professor in Purdue University’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is principal investigator. His team will develop joints incorporating a resistance heater made from the same thermoplastic matrix as the composite struts, alongside a thin-film resistor.
“The embedded heater provides in situ heating to bring the thermoplastic matrix to the processing temperature for bonding and debonding the joint-strut interface by mechanical forces,” he said. “Intelligent robotic systems will perform the welding operation and structural reassembly to achieve reconfiguration of a truss.”
Robotics development will be led by Yu She, assistant professor in Purdue’s Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering. His team will develop a dual-arm system incorporating vision, tactile sensing, and force and thermal feedback.
“My team will develop a dual-arm robotic system that uses vision, tactile sensing, and force and thermal feedback to locate composite joints, activate their embedded heaters, and carefully separate or reconnect the structural components,” he said.
The project follows AnalySwift’s Phase I NASA STTR award in 2024. The company will contribute its composite simulation expertise to modelling the materials and structures required, including assessing the feasibility of repurposing full-scale trusses.
“Long-duration crewed missions to the moon, Mars and beyond require infrastructure to be constructed sustainably on these surfaces,” Wood said.
