How AI and 3D Printing Fast-Tracked the NNSA’s Aires Tide Prototype

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has successfully demonstrated the first tangible output of the federal Genesis Mission with the creation of Aires Tide: an AI-designed, 3D-printed flight test vehicle. Initiated back in November 2025 via a presidential Executive Order, the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission connects national laboratory AI-enabled supercomputers. Leveraging this platform, a team across NNSA’s National Laboratories (Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia), alongside NNSA’s Kansas City National Security Campus, designed, built, and tested the prototype vehicle in just five months. Normally, this process takes about two years.

What Is Aires Tide?

Aires Tide is an 11-foot-tall vehicle built for fast-tracked, scientific flight tests. Launched into the atmosphere, the vehicle measures the intense heat and vibrations a nuclear weapon would experience on its path to a target. The critical data gathered from these tests is relevant to the nation’s stockpile and will be used to optimize future systems developed under the same design and manufacturing model.

The final Aires Tide prototype was printed in Inconel (Photo Credit: NNSA)

The Role of Supercomputing and AI in Aerospace Design

To achieve the rapid timeline between October 2025 and March 2026, researchers utilized two of NNSA’s flagship AI-enabled supercomputers: Venado and El Capitan. AI tools were used to design the vehicle’s internal shape and structure, including. They optimized the vehicle’s ability to handle extreme heat and stress, and determined the precise location of internal components, such as sensors and power buses.