Interstellar Lab, a company that is currently exploring the use of additive manufacturing to scale up the production of BioPods, modules for sustainable living on Earth and in Space, is leveraging Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform for the design and product development.
Interstellar Lab ambitions to create a closed-loop controlled environment habitats and biospheres generating and recycling food, water and air. In this vein, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud is useful to design and develop the first prototype of BioPod.
The platform of the software company has several modules, the latest one unveiled being 3DEXPERIENCE.Works but the research company was particularly interested in the “Reinvent the Sky” industry solution experience that enables collaboration, rapid optimization and validation of its designs.
In one digital environment providing secure and instant access to the latest project data from anywhere at any time, team members in France and the U.S. combined their expertise and used a virtual twin to simulate and test the performance of BioPod’s structure in extreme climates, as well as that of its biological systems such as the optimal levels of oxygen, carbon dioxide and light levels for plants to grow.
“Climate change is a real emergency for Earth and we only have a small window to bring about positive change. We are developing a new framework for sustainable living on Earth and a testbed for future space missions,” said Barbara Belvisi, Founder and CEO, Interstellar Lab. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables us to have the most efficient working processes and avoid reworking designs from scratch. As we progress to the next stage, the platform’s program and project management capabilities will be invaluable to us for storing and retrieving design knowledge and managing the product lifecycle effectively.”
As a reminder, BioPod is an inflatable dome measuring 6 meters (19.7 feet) wide, 10 meters (32.8 feet) long and 4.5 meters (14.8 feet) high that uses composites for the solid technical base and soft plastic membranes for the main and outer shell. It is designed to revolutionize food production by combining advanced crop cultivation technology with predictive monitoring to grow a diverse array of crops and plants that would not otherwise survive in a traditional indoor farming setup.
As BioPod evolves, Interstellar Lab will use the virtual twin to experience and monitor the dome’s operations and maintenance, and gather data around food production and the environment. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform will also facilitate communication with suppliers as the company designs future modules and scales up manufacturing and outsourcing, and enable Interstellar Lab to create photo-realistic renderings from BioPod’s 3D model, to communicate its vision.
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