(Doctor) Jamie F. Thompson

Zero Gravity Printing

After developing off-planet applications for additive manufacturing, my attention turned to the methods by which the research is performed.

Space is extremely expensive. Many early-stage technologies make use of parabolic flight as a method to validate technology in simulated reduced gravity environments. This is less expensive, but costs are still signifigant.

At Xerox PARC and CU Boulder, I led a program to fund, design and build a flight rig housing several hacked 3D printers and a vision system to validate the use of auger deposition (shown left).

The program grew from an effort to prototype a simple, closed loop materials discovery platform, intended to develop and optimize conductive/sorbent inks.

Each printer within the flight rig consisted of an off-the-shelf FDM printer that was repurposed to extrude material analogues for lunar regolith though an auger extruder. Rapid prototyping computer vision approaches, originally ideated for process optimization, allowed for initial steps to be taken towards automation of materials development. In this case, the key value was preservation of reduced gravity print data that is lost during high G reset maneuvers flown by the plane to regain altitude after a reduced gravity event. This approach allows for much greater degrees of data mining to be achieved post-experiment.

For me, the most meaningful learning, established here, was use of volumentric capture to maximize data accuisition. This technology is easily scalable, and I look forward to utilising this to validate future Zero G technologies on grand scales though the automation of science.

Printable Life Support

After dabbling into life support technologies at NASA, whilst developing novel printing techniques at Xerox PARC, I became excited about the autonomous systems NASA uses to assess performace of life-support systems. It was clear to me that it was an overly complex process to select materials and assess their performances.

I dreamed of a system that could digitally control concentrations of various chemistries containing the desired properties.

Not only could an integrated discovery/manufacture system systematically repeat experimentation and analysis (automanous science), it could also print heating elements within, replacing the need for external heating systems and infrastucture.

After initial prototyping, it was identified that the resistivity of the internal heaters could be monitored to infer internal operation tempertures.

My primary area of focus at NASA was the development of new, state-of-the-art materials for performing photoelectrocatalysis on carbon dioxide. The purpose was to develop a printable ink that could coat the inside of spacecraft, assisting with the maintenance of breathable atmosphere.

Through the exploration of chemistries surrounidng metal nanoparticle synthesis, in the presence of photoactive materials such as titania, simple solar fuel production was achieved. These composite materials were further processed into jettable inks allowng for precise, computer-controlled placement.

Through collaboration with Imperial College London, Transient Absorption Spectroscopy (TAS) was utiised in an attempt to assess the electron dynamics within the printed materials acrosss a range of envionmental factors, including light parameters, as well as gas mixtures.

By combining complex scientific analysis techniques with printing technologies and automation, basic materials discovery can be achieved. It was here I began to see a future where material discovery is achieved algorithmically.

Plasma Printing

During my time at NASA, I worked closely with a group developing plasma-based printing technologies. I synthesised nanoparticle materials that could be deposited via an aersol method though a plasma chamber. This was one of my first exposures to the exotic printing approaches that provide powerful, computer-controlled science / manufacturing tasks.

I was most excited by the complexity associated with the wide array of chemistries and print parameters that could control the environment immediately surrounding the print process.

More recently, I have been involved in advising how to develop this technology into reduced gravity environments.

For my undergraduate thesis project, I contrubuted towards a bio-imaging project. Through the design of DNA structures, adhesion to a substrate could be controlled such that the helix is horizontally tethered paralell to the substrate surface. This arrangement allows the bases to become visible though Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) because they are pulled into the plasmonic detection region close to the surface.

This project gave me the chance to learn the chemistry underpinning SERS as well as methodologies to support batch processing in scientific applications.

My first real bite into scientific research began with battery development. Whilst completing my undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Southampton University, I was introduced to the rules and traits that surround the building blocks of reality.

I was struck by the sheer complexity surrounding processes of varying chemical compositions of reactants, as well as their reaction conditions.

I learned that these complex systems can be optimized through research processes, to produce desired products and outcomes.

Between lectures, I spent my time in the electrochemistry labs helping PhD students optimize electrolytes and redox catalysts. The reserch was aimed at generating flow battery modules capable of stacking to deliver up to Mega Watts of power.

This project allowed me to begin considering the effects that our actions within the laboratory have on projects as they mature.