3D-printed spacecraft

3D printing began to be used in production versions of spaceflight hardware in early 2014. In January, SpaceX first flew a "Falcon 9 rocket with a 3D-printed Main Oxidizer Valve (MOV) body in one of the nine Merlin 1D engines". The valve is used to control flow of cryogenic liquid oxygen to the engine in a high-pressure, low-temperature, high-vibration physical environment.[1]

Other 3D-printed spacecraft assemblies have been ground-tested, but have not yet flown to space, including high-temperature, high-pressure rocket engine combustion chambers and the entire mechanical spaceframe and propellant tanks for a small satellite of a few hundred kilograms.

The new United Launch Alliance Vulcan launch vehicle—with first launch no earlier than 2019—is evaluating 3d-printing for over 150 parts: 100 polymer and 50+ metal parts.[2]

Applications

Rocket engines

The SuperDraco engine that provides launch escape system and propulsive-landing thrust for the Dragon V2 passenger-carrying space capsule is fully printed, and was the first fully printed rocket engine. In particular, the engine combustion chamber is printed of Inconel, an alloy of nickel and iron, using a process of direct metal laser sintering, and operates at a chamber pressure 6,900 kilopascals (1,000 psi) at a very high temperature. The engines are contained in a printed protective nacelle to prevent fault propagation in the event of an engine failure.[3][4][5] The SuperDracon engine produces 73 kilonewtons (16,400 lbf) of thrust.[6] The engine completed a full qualification test in May 2014, and is slated to make its first orbital spaceflight in 2015 or 2016.[1][5]

The ability to 3D print the complex parts was key to achieving the low-mass objective of the engine. It’s a very complex engine, and it was very difficult to form all the cooling channels, the injector head, and the throttling mechanism. ... [The ability] "to print very high strength advanced alloys ... was crucial to being able to create the SuperDraco engine."[7]

In June 2014, Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJR) announced that they had "manufactured and successfully tested an engine which had been entirely 3D printed." The Baby Banton engine is a 22 kN (5,000 lbf) thrust engine that runs on LOX/kerosene propellant.[8] By March 2015, AJR had completed a series of hot-fire tests for additively manufactured components for its full-size AR-1 booster engine.[9]

Spacecraft structure

3D-printed satellite mechanical structure, Arkyd-300, February 2014. The torus holds the propellant and provides the structural frame for the satellite.

By 2014, 3D printing had begun to be used to print the entire mechanical structure and integral propellant tanks of a small spacecraft.[10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "SpaceX Launches 3D-Printed Part to Space, Creates Printed Engine Chamber for Crewed Spaceflight". SpaceX. Retrieved 2014-08-01. Compared with a traditionally cast part, a printed valve body has superior strength, ductility, and fracture resistance, with a lower variability in materials properties. The MOV body was printed in less than two days, compared with a typical castings cycle measured in months. The valve’s extensive test program – including a rigorous series of engine firings, component level qualification testing and materials testing – has since qualified the printed MOV body to fly interchangeably with cast parts on all Falcon 9 flights going forward.
  2. ↑ Stone, Jeff (2015-04-21). "Vulcan Rocket: 3D Printing Launch Plan Includes More Than 100 Components". International Business Times. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Norris, Guy (2014-05-30). "SpaceX Unveils ‘Step Change’ Dragon ‘V2’". Aviation Week. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  4. ↑ Kramer, Miriam (2014-05-30). "SpaceX Unveils Dragon V2 Spaceship, a Manned Space Taxi for Astronauts — Meet Dragon V2: SpaceX's Manned Space Taxi for Astronaut Trips". space.com. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bergin, Chris (2014-05-30). "SpaceX lifts the lid on the Dragon V2 crew spacecraft". NASAspaceflight.com. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  6. ↑ James, Michael; Salton, Alexandria; Downing, Micah (November 12, 2013), Draft Environmental Assessment for Issuing an Experimental Permit to SpaceX for Operation of the Dragon Fly Vehicle at the McGregor Test Site, Texas, May 2014 – Appendices (PDF), Blue Ridge Research and Consulting, LCC, p. 12, retrieved August 8, 2014
  7. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2014-05-30). "SpaceX unveils its "21st century spaceship"". NewSpace Journal. Retrieved 2014-05-31.
  8. ↑ "Aerojet Rocketdyne 3D Prints An Entire Engine in Just Three Parts". 3dprint.com. 2014-06-26. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  9. ↑ "Aerojet Rocketdyne Hot-Fire Tests Additive Manufactured Components for the AR1 Engine to Maintain 2019 Delivery". Aerojet Rocketdyne. 2015-03-15. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  10. ↑ Diamandis, Peter (2014-06-26). "Update from Planetary Resources". Peter H. Diamandis channel. Planetary Resources. Retrieved 2014-07-30.


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