Pigs in space: A bio-inspired design and space challenges cornerstone project

Abstract

On August 2-4, 2016, the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) and Great Lakes Biomimicry (GLBio), in collaboration with NASA, presented the first annual National Biomimicry Summit and Education Forum for Aerospace. The overall Summit Objective was to establish a convergence of practitioners, disciplines, bio-inspired philosophy, tools and research for the benefit of all. The Summit introduced VIBE (Virtual Interchange for Bio-inspired Exploration), a multidisciplinary team established by the NASA Glenn Research Center with the goal of creating a sustainable, cross-geographical, 24x7 online workspace. With biomimicry as its driving philosophy, VIBE seeks to advance biomimicry research in cooperation with partners from academia, industry and other government agencies. A design project was created based on the themes explored during the summit and asked 880 students in a first-year engineering design and communication course to explore design inspired by nature and how it might benefit the following areas that were the focus of the summit. 1. Materials and structures for extreme environments 2. Persistence of life in extreme environments 3. Guidance, navigation and communication 4. Next generation aeronautics and in-space propulsion 5. Sustainable energy conversion and power These areas are focus areas of NASA and of space exploration in general. This paper will describe the design methodology and approaches used for this project, report on the outcomes, and discuss lessons learned.