AnalySwift receives NASA award to enable long-duration space missions

Purdue University news release highlights $899,738 Phase II STTR award will fund 2-year activity to develop robotic welding technology

Kawai Kwok, an associate professor in Purdue University’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, will be the principal investigator on a project with commercial software provider AnalySwift LLC. The company received an $899,738 Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer award from NASA for the research. (Purdue University photo/Alan Cesar)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — There is a critical barrier to cultivating a sustainable human presence on the moon, Mars and beyond: Delivering materials to build infrastructure is costly and requires more cargo space than is currently available.

AnalySwift LLC, a Purdue University-affiliated company, has received an $899,738 Phase II STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) award from NASA for a two-year activity to develop a solution: a robotic technology that welds and unwelds thermoplastic composites in space.

Allan Wood, AnalySwift president and CEO, said the activity’s purpose is to enable disassembly and reassembly of large truss structures by unwelding and welding 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.

AnalySwift develops cutting-edge engineering software for the rapid yet accurate design and analysis of composite materials structures.

“Our focus will be simulating the advanced materials and structures needed for this activity, including the feasibility of repurposing full-scale truss structures,” Wood said.

The activity has four objectives:

Develop thermoplastic composite joints with embedded resistance heaters
Build robotic manipulators for unwelding and welding operations
Demonstrate robotic disassembly and reassembly of a prototype truss structure in a laboratory environment
Evaluate feasibility of repurposing operation of full-scale structures

The Phase II award follows a Phase I STTR NASA award to AnalySwift in 2024.

The full news release is available on Purdue University’s website, including details of Purdue’s role, which includes developing composite joints embedded with a resistance heater and the robotics used to assemble and repurpose large structures.

Media contact: Steve Martin, sg******@*rf.org

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