Leading voices from across the aerospace industry and academia gathered in Florence, Italy for the panel titled "Engineering Innovation Enabling Scientific Research," examining how advances in engineering are unlocking new scientific missions and how ambitious science goals are, in turn, driving engineering breakthroughs.

The panel, moderated by Alison Nordt, Director of Space Sciences & Instrumentation at Lockheed Martin Space's Advanced Technology Center, brought together six panellists to discuss the evolving relationship between space science and systems engineering: Marius Anger (Aalto University), Jon Arenberg (Northrop Grumman), Mayra Montrose (L3Harris), Giampiero Di Paolo (Thales Alenia Space Italia), Steve Squyres (Blue Origin) and Eric Stallmer (Voyager).

 - Researchers at Princeton engineering developed a math framework for construction of adjustable shells that snap into different configurations. Each configuration is stable — it can maintain its position and resist outside force without additional locking mechanisms. The method has applications in robotics, space exploration and construction.

- Shells, thin structures with a curved surface, are a highly efficient method for supporting loads over wide areas, like airplane wings. Shells exist in nature, as eggshells or skulls, in the built environment as bridges and machine parts, and in ancient buildings like the Roman Pantheon and the Hagia Sophia.

- Taking inspiration from curved-crease origami and concepts from differential geometry, the team developed guidelines for curved, multi-stable structures. Based on geometry, the work does not require specific shapes or exotic construction materials. The team built robots to explore the concept of snapping curved folds which can be controlled with magnetic fields, without needing any onboard motors or electronics.