Engineers at Autodesk and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have proposed a new lander concept that can explore distant satellites such as Europa and Enceladus. It weighs less than most landers that NASA sends to other planets and satellites. Autodesk recently released this innovative lander design, which looks like a spider made of metal.

When it comes to space travel, the best materials to resist the harsh environment of space are metals such as titanium and aluminum, but these metals may be heavy. Moreover, the heavier the vehicle, the more difficult it is to launch into space and the higher the cost. Reducing the weight helps to reduce the overall cost and complexity of the task. The reduction in weight also creates opportunities for adding more instruments and sensors to the lander, which can collect more valuable scientific data.

In order to find a way to reduce the weight of the lift-off lander, Autodesk uses its own artificial intelligence software. This artificial intelligence software can give hundreds of different designs in a short time. Engineers only need to enter a set of constraints to allow the computer to generate a concept map. For example, in this project, the constraints entered by Autodesk were temperature and pressure, the type of material used (such as titanium and aluminum), and the manufacturing method (including casting and 3D printing).

Autodesk claims that this new lander is 35% lighter than other NASA landers, and its internal structure can support a scientific instrument weighing up to 250 pounds.