Case Study: NASA achieves 36-hour generative design part delivery with Protolabs

NASA delivers a generatively designed part in 36 hours with Protolabs

NASA, the U.S. space agency, faced the challenge of designing and manufacturing extremely lightweight, robust spacecraft components for its Artemis moon mission, where every gram saved reduces enormous launch costs. They turned to manufacturing vendor Protolabs and its CNC machining service to produce a generatively designed part under an extremely tight deadline.

Protolabs implemented a rapid digital manufacturing process. After NASA engineers defined constraints using generative AI software, Protolabs received the CAD file and CNC machined the part from high-strength aluminum 6061. The solution delivered the physical part in just 36 hours, achieving a 6-10x improvement in mass, stiffness, and design time compared to traditional methods, and met the critical deadline for presentation at the PowerSource Global Summit.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa)