Origami Metamaterials Soften Rocket Landings

May-27-19 Origami-inspired structures made from metamaterials could soften rocket landings and open the door to reusable rockets.

Developed by a team from the University of Washington, the structures are made up of ‘unit cells,’ as the team calls them, that are repeated in a specific pattern. The unit cell created by the team will flex to absorb the forces of an impact before returning to its original shape, softening the blow. A prototype design with 20 of the unit cells connected together showed that the forces of the wave were stopped by the first few unit cells—never making it to the end of the chain.

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[COSMOSMAGAZINE.COM]
[WASHINGTON.EDU]

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