High-speed lightning photography, futuristic material science, cutting-edge manufacturing design, and extraterrestrial coverups – in a recent, expansive episode of the “Tom & Lonnie Chat” (TLC), we explored the limits of technological innovation in manufacturing.
We welcomed a full cast to trek through this galaxy of captivating topics: Georgia Tech’s Dr. Tom Kurfess and Dr. Kyle “Cyber Kyle” Saleeby; Sandia Laboratory’s Dr. Lonnie Love and Jason Payne; AMT’s Mary Cecile Neville; and yours truly.
A Voice in the Dark
To start the discussion, Payne, a radiofrequency engineer, recounted some of the intense stories he experienced throughout his career in the more remote areas of the Southwest of the United States. “Intense” may not be the first descriptor that comes to mind when you think of a radiofrequency engineer, but keep in mind this area – both the research field and the physical location – is powered by alien stories, urban myths, and general weird vibes.
Payne’s first job in high school was at New Mexico’s Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, where researchers studied lightning behavior by firing decommissioned surface missiles into thunderstorms. The rockets were attached to 3,000-foot metal cables, and Payne captured high-speed photographs of the lightning strikes that followed the conductive paths. During his shifts, Payne was tasked with radioing between research stations.
On one of his shifts, a curious older listener made contact on the public frequency the laboratory was using. That's how he met Charlie Moore.
Unknown to Payne at the time, Moore was a top-ranking government scientist. As they got to know each other, it quickly became apparent Moore had insights to share on their research.
Later, during a get-together at Moore’s home with students from the project, Payne learned something unbelievable: Charlie was intimately involved – and maybe even caused – the infamous 1947 Roswell alien crash site incident (though the government claims it was just a weather balloon). I won’t spoil any more of the story – or if any alien bodies were recovered. You’ll have to tune in to find out.
One of the fascinating developments that came out of the Roswell incident was that materials like super-thin Mylar film were recovered – materials that were leagues ahead of their time. But were they really that alien? Or were they just secretly developed by government scientists? I bet Charlie Moore would have known. He developed it.
Waiting for Manufacturing To Catch Up
Materials shrouded in secrecy and recovered from sites like Roswell are now integral to modern manufacturing processes. Discovering them was only one step. Getting them into use was a whole new can of worms. Take Inconel, for example. The nickel superalloy was trademarked in the 1930s, but it’s taken nearly 90 years to become a staple in advanced manufacturing (learn more in my "Nickle Alloy (Inconel) Lore" article on AMT Online). Thanks to innovations like die-sinking/wire EDM and metal powder-bed fusion processes, Inconel has escaped top secret labs and become usable and affordable. It’s now one of the most popular and workable superalloys.
Material development is only half the battle of profitably exploiting advanced material characteristics, though. New conformal cooling and multi-material design techniques – only possible thanks to additive manufacturing and other modern processes – now offer unthinkable thermal performance. New aerospace engines grapple with temperatures exceeding even Inconel’s melting point of over 1,260 degrees Celsius, but combining advanced manufacturing and smart design maximizes a material’s capabilities.
Where No Manufacturer Has Gone Before
If this sounds like science fiction, that’s because it was. It’s all thanks to leaps in manufacturing and the new designs they enable. This doesn't just apply to material science: Universal translators, autonomous vehicles, high-speed transportation, electric aviation, automated robotic agriculture – all of this is possible – and in use – thanks to novel manufacturing techniques.
These innovations transform how we produce and interact with technology. Job shops must now embrace these techniques to stay competitive, and then we need to train the next generations of engineers to innovate with them. The discoveries have been made; it’s now just a matter of application. It’s an incredibly exciting time.
See these alien technologies and more at IMTS 2024. Join us on Sept. 10 at 1-4 p.m. for “The Shop of Our Future,” part of the IMTS ELEVATE Job Shops, powered by AMT program (IMTS.com/JobShops), when Kurfess and Love will discuss “Unlocking Efficiency: Tom and Lonnie’s Insights on Automation for Job Shops.” And who knows? You might even see the aliens themselves (no promises – their schedules are packed.)
Watch the full episode at IMTS.com/WatchTLCAliens.
To read the rest of the IMTS Issue of MT Magazine, click here.
