America Wants To Build Again. Can AI Help Engineers Keep Up?

In April 2019, the DSV Limiting Factor, made by Triton Submarines, plunged to the greatest depth humans have ever gone: roughly 35,800 feet. It reached the seabed at Challenger Deep, the furthest known part of the ocean. Nearly seven miles down, deeper than Mount Everest is tall, that’s an impressive feat. Until you realize that more than 70% of the ocean floor still awaits high-resolution mapping, according to NOAA’s April 2026 figures.

Easier said than done. Engineers must first be able to design future vehicles capable of withstanding immense pressure that, at the deepest points, exceeds a thousand times the atmospheric pressure at sea level.

The ocean is just one frontier humanity longs to conquer. Space is another. To achieve either goal, we first require physical systems capable of withstanding extreme conditions. Engineers increasingly use simulation and digital twins to understand how systems may behave in dangerous or extreme physical environments before risking humans, vessels or machinery. “A digital twin is a digital replica of a physical object, person, system, or process, contextualized in a digital version of its environment,” explains McKinsey.com. “Digital twins can help many kinds of organizations simulate real situations and their outcomes, ultimately allowing them to make better decisions.”

In other words, developing simulations and digital twins can help us boldly go where humanity has never gone before. But what if simulation tools could also enable America to build again, as we did in the twentieth century, with a renewed focus on making advanced products here at home?