Designing Parts for the Artemis IV Mission to the Moon
Engineers at the PowerSource Global Summit worked on developing parts that can survive the extreme environment of the moon using generative design techniques and lightweight, affordable material.
Edited by EE Staff
Cool Stuff
Sep 15, 2026
Aerospace
NASA’s Artemis IV mission is not only aimed at putting humans back on the moon, it is exploring the possibilities of permanent settlements for the future there as well as, one day, on Mars. This is no easy task, of course, so for this to happen, NASA engineers had to scrutinize every part on a spacecraft to minimize real estate and weight. Plus, every part must survive the extreme temperatures of the Moon and beyond.
An experiment conducted at a recent PowerSource Global Summit challenged engineers to develop a list of geometries and qualities a specific part would require in order to survive the take off and flight to the moon as well as tolerate the extreme conditions on the surface of the moon once it arrived. The summit brings together government, private industry, universities, and more to exchange information, ideas, and best practices.
Summit attendees came together to identify constraints for the part—which acts as an apparatus for holding the equivalent of an upside-down 250mL Ehrlenmeyer flask to capture samples of volatile gases released when the moon warms. Afterward, the designs were input into a generative design framework that allowed artificial intelligence to develop a part that met those criteria.
An advantage of generative design is the ability to operate with a detached sensibility and, therefore, to create what it considers the best solution to a set of parameters. This method can change your workflow. In fact, in less than 36 hours, the team was able to determine constraints, upload that information to Protolabs digital thread, and then machine part.
Surviving Space Travel and Environments
Objects on the moon in the area Artemis will inhabit must tolerate temperatures that can range from -315 oF to -55 oF (-193 oC to -48 oC). According to Vaerewyck, the conference engineers had to ask themselves, ‘What does this part need to do and what environment does it need to survive.’ From there, they developed parameters for generating the design, with an eye on optimizing weight and maximizing stiffness.
The material used is a popular choice for aerospace, automotive, marine, and general manufacturing. It’s lightweight and affordable aluminum, which offers an excellent strength-to-weight ratio. In this case, the CNC-machined part was made with a form of aluminum 6061 that has undergone processes to enhance its strength and stress relief capabilities.
Some of the other key design parameters were that the part had to be able to carry 68 pounds of mass and needed to be stackable. The latter enables multiple copies of the part to take up less space on the spacecraft. The part also required footings that allowed it to stand upright on the moon's uneven surface.
Finally, the engineers wanted a part that was quickly machinable. While technologies like 3D printing would offer more design freedom, metal 3D printing would not be possible in the 36-hour window to deliver the part. The final design quickly moved through tool-pathing: 19 hours of milling and 4 hours of processing.
Although the team used AI to help with the design, “You can’t underestimate the human element here, ensuring that there were no alarms or errors in the milling process,” said Greg Perz, Protolabs manufacturing engineer manager for CNC machining.
Lead image courtesy of Protolabs.
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