AnalySwift lands $899,738 NASA grant to weld structures in space
What's the deal? AnalySwiftDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Purdue UniversityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →-affiliated software company, has received an $899,738 Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award from NASADealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The two-year grant funds development of a robotic technology that welds and unwelds thermoplastic composites in space.
What's the endgame? The goal is to enable the disassembly and reassembly of large truss structures by unwelding and welding composite joints. That would let operators repurpose spacecraft components across missions and build structures larger than what launch-fairing dimensions allow.
"This capability allows the repurposing of spacecraft components for other missions, achieving multiuse structures and assembling large structures without the limit of launch-fairing dimensions," said Allan Wood, AnalySwift's president and CEO.
Why now? Delivering materials to build infrastructure on the moon, Mars, and beyond is costly and constrained by available cargo space. The award follows a Phase I STTR grant NASA gave AnalySwift in 2024.
What's next? The project has four objectives: develop composite joints with embedded resistance heaters, build robotic manipulators for welding operations, demonstrate robotic disassembly and reassembly of a prototype truss in a lab, and evaluate repurposing full-scale structures.
AnalySwift develops engineering software for the design and analysis of composite materials structures. "Our focus will be simulating the advanced materials and structures needed for this activity, including the feasibility of repurposing full-scale truss structures," Wood said. Kawai Kwok, an associate professor in Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, will serve as principal investigator.
The signal: At roughly $900,000, the award sits well above the typical grant of its kind — around the 68th percentile by size — reflecting NASA's bet on in-space manufacturing as a route to lower-cost, long-duration missions.
Read more: analyswift.com
Image credit: AnalySwift
