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.
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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.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
What a great read.
Simple solution to a complex problem.
Not an easy solution, but a simple one.
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.
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.
Go Cougs!
on a related note:
DeepMind solves protein folding problem: AlphaFold V. 2
Lex Fridman, December 2, 2020
https://youtu.be/W7wJDJ56c88
16:41
Kyle,
I am willing to bet they will not “Coug it” at the end!
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.
Alex-
You would probably enjoy a lot of the people & topics Lex Fridman covers. (He’s an artificial-intelligence genius.)