- Title: Ancient origami inspires new rocket leg design
- Date: 16th July 2019
- Summary: SEATTLE, UNITED STATES (JULY, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PLASTIC AND SPRING-BASED LEG ASSEMBLY BEING COMPRESSED (SOUNDBITE) (English) AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, PROFESSOR J.K. YANG, SAYING: "So space landing structures still heavily rely on plastic materials or some form of impact mitigating layers that should be replaced after every mission. So I envision our structures can be replacing those components so that the landing structures also can be reusable after missions."
- Embargoed: 30th July 2019 11:06
- Keywords: Space travel the moon landings Elon Musk Jeff Bezos University of Washington origami physics
- Location: SEATTLE AND WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES/ THE MOON/ ANIMATION/ AT SEA
- City: SEATTLE AND WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES/ THE MOON/ ANIMATION/ AT SEA
- Country: USA
- Topics: Science,Space Exploration
- Reuters ID: LVA009AO11AHN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing approaches, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, are looking to ancient Japan for inspiration, as they build model rocket legs inspired by origami.
The legs are made from laser-cut paper which is folded, and then acrylic caps are glued to build a long chain. "Folding creases" in the legs create "counter intuitive wave motion", the university says.
This means when pressure is exerted on the leg, the folding creases react by trying to return to their normal position. This "tension force" spreads down the leg, overtaking the initial pressure and restoring the leg to its normal state.
"First we create (a) compressive wave and propagate in the system but after that there is a tensile wave formed and this tensile wave propagates faster and then overtakes the first compressive wave and that races to the end of the chain," University of Washington researcher Hiromi Yasuda told Reuters.
The legs are an example of an engineered material, or metamaterial.
"Metamaterials are basically assembled with small building blocks. And you can control the building block types and also their mechanical properties, so that when you assemble them into whole packages, then you will basically achieve different properties," aeronautics and astronautics assistant professor at the University of Washington, Professor J.K. Yang said.
By joining several of the origami cells together, it is possible to increase the amount of impact that can be absorbed.
The project is part of a drive towards making space ventures more resourceful and affordable.
In December 2015, billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX made history when it landed an orbital rocket for the first time, a feat it since has repeated several times.
By reusing rockets, SpaceX can cut its costs by about 30 percent, the company has said.
In May, billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos unveiled a mockup of a lunar lander being built by his Blue Origin rocket company.
He also touted his moon goals in a strategy aimed at capitalising on the Trump administration's renewed push to establish a lunar outpost in just five years.
With private companies running such missions, the need to save money and reuse parts has gained a new emphasis.
Researchers at the University of Washington are also keen to see their technology used on cars to limit damage and injury from accidents.
Their next plan is make models from plastic and composite materials such as carbon fibre.
If the legs can be made resilient enough, the hope is the technology could one day feature on lunar landing modules for repeat missions.
(Production: Tim Exton) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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