LEAP71 announced plans to use their computational engineering platform to design massive 3D printable rocket engines.
The software company is known for its leadership in developing a new form of 3D model generation with a concept called “Computational Engineering”. The concept is to develop an algorithm that is capable of generating variants of a design based on different inputs. You can read more about this technology in Lin Kayser’s overview here.
Computational Engineering is a form of generative design, but far more focused on specific applications. If you had, say, a computational model for bolts, it could generate any kind of bolt you’d require.
But LEAP71 isn’t making bolts. Their current application focus is advanced rocket engines, one of the most complex types of machines on the planet (and off planet too, I suppose).
These complex machines traditionally are composed of hundreds of parts that are challenging to make, assemble, and operate. They are also prone to failure at the joints and are heavier than they could be made using alternative approaches.
LEAP71 has made significant progress in this area, culminating last year in the successful hot firing of an Aerospike rocket engine designed using their computational engineering software, Noyron.
Now they’ve announced plans to step up to a whole new level by generating designs for massive rocket engines, which Kayser describes as “Starship class”.
Two things have enabled this to happen. First, there have been significant increases in the ability to 3D print very large metal objects.
The second is Noyron. It’s LEAP71’s implementation of computational engineering, which they describe here:
”Building on this geometric core, we are developing Noyron, our Large Computational Engineering Model. Noyron captures the fundamental logic of how complex physical objects are designed—encoding design rules, physics, and manufacturing constraints into a consistent computational framework. Its capabilities are informed by insights drawn from a broad range of produced objects and validated engineering processes.
Noyron serves as the platform for more specialized Computational Engineering Models across different application domains, including aerospace propulsion, thermal management, and electric mobility.”
Specifically, LEAP71 is now using their tech to build two different rocket engine reference designs: the Noyron XRA-2E5, a 200kN aerospike engine, and the Noyron XRB-2E6, a 2000kN bell-nozzle engine.
The aerospike design makes sense; that is the same style of engine they had previously tested successfully. But the bell-nozzle engine is quite a different design — how can this work? LEAP71 Managing Director Josefine Lissner explained:
“The aerospike and bell-nozzle engines we are developing are not separate efforts—they are different phenotypes of the same computational DNA. This unified approach allows us to explore fundamentally different engine architectures without reinventing the wheel every time. It’s a systematic way of scaling complexity.”
In other words, they are using the same software to generate two entirely different complex machines.
Incredibly, these designs include not only the static structure of the engine but also the turbomachinery that powers the engine. This is typically the most complex component in a rocket engine, and here it is integrated into the design directly. It’s no longer a separate component: it’s just a feature of the “engine”.
That’s the power of this technology: the number of parts can be dramatically reduced, which increases reliability and reduces weight.
I’m quite excited to see how this will turn out, but we’ll have to wait a while yet. LEAP71 said the aerospike engine will take about 18 months to complete, but the Bell engine is targeting 2029.
Via LEAP71
