I remember being told that coming up with the alloy for the oxygen side pre-burner in Spacex's Raptor engine was a tedious trial and error grind over many days and nights and not a euphoric 'a ha!' moment. I wonder if AI could help with these kinds of problems, if it can be simulated in software then let AI do the grinding.

/the oxygen side pre-burner in a full flow staged combustion rocket engine is a nasty place and figuring out a material that will survive in that environment was the key (or one of the keys) to making Raptor a reality.