The University of Sheffield has teamed up with the innovative AI start-up LEAP71 and inventor Sam Rogers to create the world’s first AI-designed and 3D-printed rocket engine.
Leveraging Sheffield’s advanced manufacturing and 3D printing expertise, they developed LEAP71’s Noyron code, which autonomously designed the engine, ultimately produced in copper. Within a matter of weeks, the engine was designed, constructed, and successfully test-fired at Airborne Engineering. The data collected from this test will be used to enhance Noyron as LEAP71 collaborates with aerospace firms around the globe.
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Josefine Lissner, Managing Director of LEAP71, emphasized the significance of this milestone: “We’ve demonstrated that producing functional rocket thrusters can now take weeks or even minutes instead of months or years.”
In a groundbreaking achievement for the UK, Sheffield prepared the engine for a hot fire test in less than two weeks, using a propellant akin to that of the iconic Saturn V. What do you think? 💭
