NASA Prints Rocket Parts.

You know I am a fan of 3D printing, but this is a first.

Using a 3D printer, NASA has printed part of a rocket engine that generated a record 20,000 pounds of thrust.  This could significantly reduce the costs for space missions.  The ability to print parts on demand would reduce the cost of manufacturing for some of the components used.

The component tested during the engine firing, an injector, delivers propellants to power an engine and provides the thrust necessary to send rockets to space. During the injector test, liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen passed through the component into a combustion chamber and produced 10 times more thrust than any injector previously fabricated using 3-D printing.

“This successful test of a 3-D printed rocket injector brings NASA significantly closer to proving this innovative technology can be used to reduce the cost of flight hardware,” said Chris Singer, director of the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Ala.

The component was manufactured using selective laser melting. This method buids up layers of nickel-chromium alloy powder to make the complex  injector with 28 elements for channeling and mixing propellants.

I reported earlier that NASA was looking to 3D printing to provide food for long space travels.

It looks like 3D printing will be our poor man’s version of transporter technology until someone gets around to making one of those.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Make mine extra large please.

NASA’s largest rocket yet is being developed.  The Space Launch System (SLS) should be ready for tests in 2017.

Since NASA has given up ferrying people, goods and materials to Earth orbit to private space companies, the SLS is being designed to carry astronauts farther from the planet than ever before.

The SLS was begun over a decade ago.  “We want to take NASA well beyond the space station. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and it will be safe, affordable and sustainable.” Says former astronaut David Leestma and now part of NASA.

The SLS will be able to boost 143 tons (130 metric tons) to orbit using many existing components in its construction.  Like all recent missions, NASA has focused on using “off the shelf” materials for missions to cut costs.

The main liquid-fueled engines and the the solid rocket boosters are leftovers from the shuttle program. Only the central structure is new.

NASA plans on using the new Orion capsule with the SLS, and hopes to have both systems ready for spaceflight by 2021.

The SLS will be able to deliver payloads L2, which is a stable orbit just past  the moon, or farther distances.

The power of the SLS will also let NASA to send probes directly to other planets in the Solar System without using gravity-assist swings that can save up to three years of flight time.

In addition to the new components of the SLS, some reverse engineering of legacy hardware, such as the Saturn V’s F-1 engines (capable of 1.5 million pounds of thrust), are being conducted.

“We are ready to move beyond LEO (low Earth orbit) into more ambitious missions,” said Leestma.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California. As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman