Titans aren’t only located in Tennessee or gifted with god-like powers. Some operate in the real world and perform amazing manufacturing feats. A great example of this is a very large composites manufacturing robot used by NASA at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Made by Electroimpact Inc., the robot helps NASA build lightweight composite parts for its Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket designed to take explorers on deep space missions starting in 2020.
“The robot builds [composite] structures larger than 26 feet in diameter, [which are] some of the largest ever constructed for space vehicles,” says Justin Jackson, the Marshall materials engineer who researched and installed the robot, and helped build and test one of the largest composite rocket fuel tanks ever made. “Composite manufacturing has advanced tremendously in the last few years, and NASA is using this industrial automated fiber placement tool in new ways to advance space exploration. Marshall’s investment in this robot will help mature composites manufacturing technology that may lead to more affordable space vehicles.”