Demand for manufacturing in space provides out-of-this-world opportunities for Buckeye engineers and scientists
NASA and commercial space companies rely on the assembly, operation, and maintenance in space of complex and growing infrastructure. With the expansion of scientific, defense and commercial exploration of space, all involved organizations will need to go beyond just assembling or replacing systems or modules, as it happens today within the International Space Station (ISS). The Moon and Mars colonization will require complex manufacturing and maintenance in space. Over time, materials used in space age or become damaged by radiation or meteorites, requiring maintenance or replacement.
Materials joining is a critical enabling technology for a large fraction of all manufacturing operations today. The same applies to objects in space, especially large structures that cannot be launched as a fully assembled unit. They need to be built in space, either at earth-lower orbit, at the Moon or Mars, or on our way to such celestial bodies. Materials joining options like bolting and using adhesives are not sustainable. Therefore, materials joining technologies for use in space, including welding, are recognized as key technologies that we need to master before we start the colonization of the Moon and Mars.
It has been five decades since welding experiments were performed by the United States in space. Electron beam welding and brazing experiments were performed at the SkyLab in 1973. Since then, the Soviet Union performed several welding/joining experiments in space over two decades. As a highlight of their work, in 1984 cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Svetlana Savitskaya entered open space and welded, brazed, coated, and cut metal for three hours with the Universal Hand Tool, a hand-held electron beam gun. Such experiments produced high-quality stainless steel and titanium welds while demonstrating reliable equipment. Welding in open space was possible.
The Universal Hand Tool was the basis of the future International Space Welding Experiment (ISWE), but the experiment was never performed due to astronauts' safety concerns. The program was canceled in 1998, but the need for in-orbit equipment maintenance and manufacturing remained and grew into an out-of-this-world opportunity for engineering students at The Ohio State University.
NASA and The Ohio State University team up
The project “Integration and Demonstration of Self-contained Laser Welding System for Microgravity Experiments” began in September 2022 and is a collaboration of students and faculty at Ohio State University and scientists and engineers at NASA. The purpose of studying welding in space is to unveil key elements of processes and materials' behavior when exposed to extreme conditions. Ohio State University and NASA are working together on a modeling methodology called Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME). Novel materials and manufacturing processes specific to space environments will be created using this methodology. Better models are being developed by this collaboration so welding in space can be conducted without costly, challenging experiments.
A multi-disciplinary Buckeye engineering team is developing, integrating, and testing a self-contained laser welding system that replicates space conditions consisting of vacuum, temperature and microgravity.1 Senior undergraduate students from welding engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial systems engineering, and computer science engineering are working with graduate students in welding engineering and electrical engineering to execute the project. Welding engineering professors and co-PIs Antonio Ramirez and Boyd Panton lead the effort at Ohio State.
NASA Langley Research Center had built an experimental system for microgravity experiments to study electron beam welding (EBW) and additive manufacturing in space. This system is being modified by the Buckeye engineering team to use Laser Beam Welding (LBW). Both electron beam and laser beam welding processes produce high-quality welds in a vacuum and require relatively low power when joining “thin-section materials typical of spacecrafts”.
In contrast to EBW, Laser Beam Welding presents less safety concerns, is more compact, and uses less energy, which is “critical for minimizing launch mass and in-situ power consumption.” Power supplies deliver the welding heat source through a flexible fiber making it ideal for space repair and manufacturing. And laser beam welds are strong enough to absorb accelerations and vibrations during launches and entries.
Professor Ramirez explains, “The market for on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing is projected to be considerably large and will benefit the broad space community, including space exploration, commercial, and national security missions.”
Results of the Buckeye engineers’ research will enable advancements and maturation of welding in space at NASA using the LBW process, which will have been tested “under microgravity conditions using parabolic flight capabilities available through Zero Gravity Corporation.” The welding system will also include upgraded hardware, software, sensors, and modeling that collect welding process information transferable to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
This activity at Ohio State is being led by the Manufacturing and Materials Joining Innovation Center (Ma2JIC), in collaboration with the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence and the Starlab George Washington Carver Science Park (Starlab-GWCS). Many laboratories and facilities across Ohio State will be used at different stages in the multi-disciplinary project, including these Welding Engineering Laboratories: Materials Lab, Additive Manufacturing Lab, Laser Processing Lab. Work also involves NASA Facilities at Metal Processes & Manufacturing Branch on the grounds of Marshall Space Flight Center and at the Advanced Materials and Processing Branch on the grounds of Langley Research Center.
The multi-disciplinary undergraduate team working on this project presented their work, NASA – Integration & Ground Demo of Self-contained Laser Welding System for Parabolic Microgravity, at the 2023 Engineering Design Showcase in April. Buckeye engineering teammates include Eugene Choi (Welding Engineering), Carlos Gelada (Welding Engineering), Diya Adengada (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Martina Moncolova (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Evan Sichel (Mechanical Engineering), and graduate student Karan Mehta (Electrical and Computer Engineering).
Upon graduation of senior engineering students, the graduate student team members will transition the project to a new generation of seniors who will complete the complex fabrication and integration of advanced instrumentation and perform microgravity experiments in collaboration with NASA scientists using the parabolic flights provided by Zero Gravity Corporation.
Key personnel from Ohio State University and their expertise:
Dr. Antonio Ramirez
Dr. Boyd Panton
Dr. John Horack
Dr. Ali Nassiri
Nate Ames
Dr. David Williams
Bob Rhoads
The NASA Team is led by:
Dr. Jeff Sowards
Dr. Karen Taminger
1 Integration and Ground Demonstration of Self-contained Laser Welding System for Parabolic Microgravity Experiments. TIN: 31-6025986. DUNS Number: 832127323
Written by Libby Culley, Senior Communications Specialist, in collaboration with Dr. Antonio Ramirez. | culley.36@osu.edu
