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Using origami to design spaceship fuel bladders

Capitalism in space: Engineers at Washington State University have developed a new design for a collapsible fuel bladder for spaceships using as its basis the Japanese art of origami.

Washington State University researchers have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for outer space travel – how to store and move fuel to rocket engines. The researchers have developed an origami-inspired, folded plastic fuel bladder that doesn’t crack at super cold temperatures and could someday be used to store and pump fuel.

The advantages of a fuel tank that will shrink as it empties are numerous. It appears that nothing that has been tried so far has worked as well as this new design. If proven viable, it will change radically how interplanetary spaceships are designed. It will also make interplanetary missions more practical.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

8 comments

  • janyuary

    What a great read.

    Simple solution to a complex problem.
    Not an easy solution, but a simple one.

  • Rodney

    Should this technology pan out, it should make orbital propellant depots more viable; however, I’m sure the “We must build super monster rockets” crowd will have negative things to say about that.

  • John E Bowen

    Not easy, no. But I think this is the kind of problem domain that benefits from research in widely different areas. I mean, in terms of moving up the technology readiness level (TRL), it seems we’re still taking baby steps. The recent award to SpaceX to transfer fuel by the tonne is great. It is one approach–small thrust produces small acceleration, settles the liquids. But maybe a tank with a built-in piston could compress the origami bladder.

    I also like this quote; there’s a lot of engineering truth to it:
    “The best solutions are the ones that are already ready-made and that you can then transfer to what you’re working on,” Westra said.

  • wayne

    on a related note:

    DeepMind solves protein folding problem: AlphaFold V. 2
    Lex Fridman, December 2, 2020
    https://youtu.be/W7wJDJ56c88
    16:41

  • Jay

    Kyle,
    I am willing to bet they will not “Coug it” at the end!

  • Alex Andrite

    wyane
    Great protein folding link.

    Regarding origami, I recall a similar issue where the Japanese designers used origami for an expanding framework to support a solar array.
    https://www.origami-resource-center.com/origami-science.html

    Much later, I worked with a fellow who was folding cranes for his wedding. As I recall, he had to fold up 100 of them, or was it 1,000 ?
    Ah well, his fingers were sore.

  • wayne

    Alex-
    You would probably enjoy a lot of the people & topics Lex Fridman covers. (He’s an artificial-intelligence genius.)

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