Hierarchical assembly of a self-replicating spacecraft
Name
17.04.11.SelfAssemSpacecraft.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
1.83 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
59d03d5b672b5e6ada96cdde350a674b
Author(s)
Langford, William Kai
Ghassaei, Amanda Paige
Jenett, Benjamin Eric
Gershenfeld, Neil A
Date Issued
March 2017
Publisher
IEEE
Citation
Langford, Will, Ghassaei, Amanda, Jenett, Ben and Gershenfeld, Neil. 2017. "Hierarchical assembly of a self-replicating spacecraft."
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
© 2017 IEEE. Extraterrestrial fabrication of spacecraft by current best-practice manufacturing methods is complicated by the need to integrate thousands of unique parts, each made using a diversity of processes and raw materials. Reducing this complexity could enable exponential space exploration via self-replicating spacecraft (known as Von Neumann probes). We propose a hierarchical model for machine design, based on 13 reversibly-assembled part types, reducing the complexity of machine self-replication and bridging prior work in the areas of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and modular robotics. Analogous to amino acids in biological systems, these parts form a basis set for the electronic and mechanical subsystems of an exploratory spacecraft. In simulation we validate representative subsystem designs and develop a hierarchical architecture for the design of mechanisms, actuation, and electronics. By standardizing and modularizing the parts, we drastically reduce the diversity of the required supply chain as well as the minimum viable payload mass. We estimate that a seed launch could contain approximately 105 parts, fit within the envelope of a 3U cubesat, and enable the assembly of over one hundred self-replicating assemblers.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1109/aero.2017.7943956
