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Lockheed Martin moves 3D printing to the production line
3D printing is fast moving into the big leagues as it becomes less of a way to print plastic key fobs and more of a tool for the likes of aerospace giants. Earlier this month the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company showcased it next-generation, digitally integrated design and manufacturing process with a tour of its Louisiana facility for community leaders from Jefferson County.
During the tour on October 4, Lockheed Martin's Vice President of Production, Dennis Little, introduced the company’s next-generation digital manufacturing technologies called Digital Tapestry. This is a Model Based Engineering (MBE) tool that Integrates design and manufacturing into a single process. It goes beyond CAD design by providing a digital virtual environment called the Collaborative Human Immersive Laboratory (CHIL), where designers can manipulate parts or even entire machines to see how they go together and operate. As they do so, the system produces a constant stream of automatically updated specifications.
When the design moves onto the factory floor, it’s a seamless transition because Lockheed is moving away from tasks, such as manually cutting fabric for satellite blankets or bending and inspecting fuel lines, in favor of automated fabrication and testing that works off of the digital model. To support this approach, the company is also employing standard satellite bus designs and standardizing parts, so they can be ordered in bulk from vendors.
“Our Digital Tapestry of production brings digital design to every stage of the production process for a fluid product development cycle,” says Little. “From 3D virtual pathfinding simulations to 3D printing, we are using innovative digital technology to streamline the manufacturing process for lower cycle times and reduced costs for our customers.”
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is one of the integral technologies for Digital Tapestry. Already used to manufacture parts for the F-35 fighter plane, the company is moving it more generally into its product manufacturing and especially at the Space Systems Company, where it’s currently used for printing titanium parts.
Lockheed's additive printing process takes a part design directly from a computer model and uses lasers or ion beams to fuse a cross section of the part in a layer of titanium powder. The printing machine then adds another layer and the process continues. When complete, the excess powder is removed and the part is polished and hardened. This not only allows tasks to be done in hours that normally would take weeks, but it also drastically reduces cost and allows for much more complex designs, which means that fewer parts are needed for final assembly.
Dennis Little, vice president of Production, shows a 3D-printed part
The company says it plans to expand the use of 3D printing until it is possible to one day print entire satellites.
“Virtual pathfinding and 3D printing are just two of the innovations we are implementing at Space Systems Company to digitalize the production process,” says Little. “From conceptualization to realization, we continue to look for new opportunities to improve the production cycle with advanced technology. In this industry, we have to continuously lean forward to new technologies to stay affordable, efficient and reliable for our customers.”
The video below outlines Lockheed Martin’s digital manufacturing process.
Source: Lockheed Martin
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/lockheed-digital-tapestry/29332/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
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Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
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• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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