3D printing rocket engines

[Prober]

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Hot_firing_of_world_s_first_3D-printed_platinum_thruster_chamber

Stories in the 3D materials as well
http://3dprint.com/73961/esa-3d-printed-thruster/

[john smith 19]

Stories in the 3D materials as well
http://3dprint.com/73961/esa-3d-printed-thruster/

Note while a Platinum alloy sounds expensive Iridium is in the same class.

OTOH the fairly small number of units a year they are talking about suggests they could savemoney as laser deposition is basically a near net shape mfg process.

[john smith 19]

Reaction Engines have also been using 3D printing

News update on the website: Rocket Testing Underway

- PRESS RELEASE -

Monday 15 June 2015

Reaction Engines Ltd. have begun their latest round of rocket engine testing in Westcott, UK.

The SABRE engine requires a novel design of the rocket engine’s thrust chamber and nozzle to allow operation in both air-breathing and rocket modes, as well as a smooth transition between the two. The Advanced Nozzle project is demonstrating the feasibility of this concept and represents a significant technology development effort towards the SABRE demonstrator engine.

The test engine, which has been successfully fired 15 times during its initial commissioning phase in spring 2015, incorporates several new technologies including a 3D printed, actively cooled propellant injector system. Aerodynamic data collected from the firings is being used to validate in-house computational modelling and advance the nozzle design. The test campaign is being operated by Airborne Engineering Ltd in Westcott, Buckinghamshire. Operations are planned to continue throughout 2015, including long duration burns and tests investigating the transition between air- breathing and rocket operation planned for later in the year.
[/quote]

I think that makes it the first air/H2/O2 thrust chamber to be tested anywhere.

While I think this could have been CNC made I suspect 3DP let them tweak the injector design faster and cheaper, although I doubt the whole TC was made this way.

If successful this will give proof a single design can burn air and O2 with H2 and switch between the two during a test run long enough to simulate the full ground-to-space trajectory.

O2/H2 also runs hotter than O2/RP1, so it's a significant feat in terms of temperature.

[Prober]

NASA & Aerojet Rocketdyne Use 3D Printing to Expedite Independence from Russia

http://tinyurl.com/pdx9k7k

"Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet Rocketdyne vice president of Advanced Space & Launch says, “This is another example of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s focus to maintain schedule for the United States to be able to have AR1 ready to fly in 2019, to keep our country on track to end dependence on Russian engines.”"

[Prober]

3D Printed Guided Missiles are Now a Reality Thanks to Raytheon

http://3dprint.com/81850/3d-printed-guided-missiles/

"Raytheon has been using and experimenting with the technology for years now, especially in the prototyping process. Now, however, the company says that they have 3D printed just about every component needed for a guided weapon. This includes the 3D printing of the rocket engines, the parts for the guidance and control systems, the fins on the missiles themselves, and more."

[docmordrid]

From a 3D printed .45 automatic to guided missiles in <2 years. PROGRESS!!

/s

[Prober]

The 3D Printed story (article) of this:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33141.msg1419875#msg1419875

NASA Conducts Successful Tests on New 3D Printed Turbopump for Rocket Engines
http://3dprint.com/92121/nasa-3d-print-turbopump/

“is a propellant pump with two main components: a rotodynamic pump and a driving gas turbine, usually both mounted on the same shaft, or sometimes geared together. The purpose of a turbopump is to produce a high pressure fluid for feeding a combustion chamber or other use.”

Now, this isn’t the kind of thing you can just casually toss off the block and hope that it works. Its creation took a total of two years, but if that seems like a lot, without the availability of 3D printing, it is estimated that it would have taken at least four. So, if you’re doing the math, that’s 55% fewer parts in 50% of the time…and that’s a pretty big improvement.

[ArbitraryConstant]

Now, this isn’t the kind of thing you can just casually toss off the block and hope that it works. Its creation took a total of two years, but if that seems like a lot, without the availability of 3D printing, it is estimated that it would have taken at least four. So, if you’re doing the math, that’s 55% fewer parts in 50% of the time…and that’s a pretty big improvement.

We've heard in the past about impact of build/test/modify cycles, it's hard to imagine how printing could fail to accelerate that.

[Prober]

NASA Successfully Tests 3D Printed F-1 Rocket Engine Component
http://3dprint.com/95914/nasa-3d-print-f1-rocket-engine/

“This test gave NASA the rare opportunity to test a 3D-printed rocket engine part, an engine part for which we have lots of data, including a test done three years ago with modern instrumentation. This adds to the database we are creating by testing injectors, turbo pumps and other 3D-printed rocket engine parts of interest to both Nasa and industry,” said NASA Marshall Space Flight Center test requestor Chris Protz.

"The test series was conducted by NASA at the request of Dynetics and Aerojet Rocketdyne, which designed and manufactured the 3D printed gas generator. "

[catdlr]

NASA Tests Provide Rare Opportunity to Get 3-D Printed Part Comparison Data

Published on Sep 16, 2015
The gas generator to an F-1 engine is test-fired this September at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Although the engine was originally built to power the Saturn V rockets during America's missions to the moon, this test article had new parts created using additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, to test the viability of the technology for building new engine designs.

[Prober]

The Power of 3D Printing to Accelerate NASA Plans for Manned Mars Trip
http://3dprint.com/98109/3d-print-for-manned-mars-trip/

"New breakthroughs have a lot to do with this optimism, as the team has broken new barriers a la 3D printing, due to the creation of a 3D printed turbo pump meant for the launch engine. It has been tested with success and Robertson points out that it functions in the launch engine as one of the most complex components."

“Moving from liquid hydrogen to methane on the turbo pump allows the hardware to be used as a springboard for a variety of missions,” she says, “including landing on Mars.”

[Prober]

Another SLS story.....

Metal 3D Printing is Helping NASA Blast Off into Space
http://3dprintingindustry.com/2015/10/19/metal-3d-printing-is-helping-nasa-blast-off-into-space/

"In order to evolve the hardware of their space engines, NASA is experimenting with the process of Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), a 3D printing method that utilizes space-grade metal materials such as titanium, stainless steel, cobalt chrome, and more. The Marshall team claims to be constantly pushing the envelope for potential 3D printing applications,

 The injectors, which traditionally take six to nine months to manufacture, were 3D printed and built within 10 days with DMLS, and, also, proved to be much sturdier than cast parts under stressful environments. "

[Prober]

Ready for Blast Off? SpaceX 3D Printed SuperDraco Thrusters Prove Themselves Further at Texas Rocket Facilityhttp://3dprint.com/105511/spacex-3d-printed-superdraco/

"Now, SpaceX has officially finished development testing of the four pairs of SuperDracos, at their McGregor, Texas facility. They report 27 test fires and evaluations with various cycles. Considering this is the system that would be used to save people on board in space, SpaceX–and NASA–are of course taking no chances and have been working on the design and refinements of these components and engines diligently."

[Prober]

MTI Partners with NASA Johnson on 3D Printed Engine -
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/11/21/mti-partners-nasa-johnson-3d-printed-engine/#sthash.stdL5h0d.dpuf

"MTI has produced two such components for the engineering team at NASA JSC out of Inconel 718. The material is robust enough to withstand extreme heat and corrosive environments without losing its rigidity or becoming brittle. “The Project provided amazing dialogue and collaboration between the NASA and MTI development teams and the results were excellent” said Gary Cosmer, Chief Executive Officer for Metal Technology (MTI) . - "

[Prober]

NASA Gives Aerojet Rocketdyne $1.6 Billion Contract for New, Improved, 3D Printed RS-25 Engines
http://3dprint.com/107454/nasa-aerojet-rocketdyne/

The new, sleeker engines, which Aerojet will be building for future SLS missions, will be more affordable and will require fewer parts and welds than the older ones, thanks in part to state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies including five-axis milling machines, digital X-rays… and, of course, 3D printing.

[Scylla]

Aerojet Rocketdyne Completes Build of 3-D Printed Parts for Orion Spacecraft

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), has completed 12 additively manufactured production nozzle extensions for use aboard the Orion spacecraft. The nozzle extensions are part of Orion's crew module reaction control system that Aerojet Rocketdyne is building for Lockheed Martin and NASA.

"These components are the first additively manufactured parts we have provided for the Orion spacecraft," said Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of Advanced Space & Launch Programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne. "The reaction control system on the Orion crew module is critical for astronaut crew safety, which is why we have invested heavily in the development and testing of additively manufactured components."

The 12 nozzles were produced on a single additive manufacturing machine in just three weeks, which represents a roughly 40 percent reduction in production time when compared with using conventional manufacturing techniques. The company will next conduct a series of inspections and hot-fire tests to qualify the components for use aboard Orion's Exploration Mission-1 test flight in 2018.
http://www.rocket.com/article/aerojet-rocketdyne-completes-build-3-d-printed-parts-orion-spacecraft

[Prober]

US Air Force Taps Aerojet Rocketdyne to Set 3D Printed Rocket Engine Standards
http://3dprint.com/114114/aerojet-rocketdyne-standards/

"Aerojet Rocketdyne just received a $6 million contract from the US Air Force to define 3D printed rocket engine component standards. These new standards will be used to qualify any components used in liquid-fueled rocket engine applications created using additive manufacturing technology. The contract was awarded by the US Air Force Booster Propulsion Technology Maturation Broad Agency Announcement, which is part of an all-inclusive Air Force strategy to shift away from the Russian-made RD-180 engines that are currently being used on the Atlas V launch vehicle and towards new domestically produced options."

[Prober]

Dude, Where’s My JetPack? Check Out Your 3D Printed JB-9 at CES 2016 via JetPack

"While in testing, the JetPack J-9 so far has only been able to stay in the air for ten minutes, but the creators do indeed see it as a viable type of transportation–and now entirely possible due to 3D printing. Its 3D printed components will be on display today at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. Attendees will be able to see what is making this new device possible, with a compact and lightweight construction that is still powerful enough to get someone off the ground with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). The JetPack can take you to 10,000 feet and go up to 100 mph–and after you’ve planted yourself safely on terra firma and are ready to head home, it packs easily in your trunk."

[Prober]

Project Orion: NASA’s Mission to Mars Relies on Designs of Past & Future, Powered by 3D Printing
http://3dprint.com/115954/orion-nasas-mars-3d-printing/

article written off the material in this article

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/project-orion-the-next-giant-leap/

[Prober]

Orbital ATK Successfully Tests 3D Printed Hypersonic Engine Combustor
http://3dprint.com/116380/orbital-atk-hypersonic-engine/

"A scramjet combustor needs to be able to maintain stable, steady combustion in extremely volatile conditions at speeds in excess of Mach 5 (3,800 mph), and the Orbital ATK combustor met or exceeded all requirements during the testing.

The engine combustor was manufactured at Orbital ATK’s headquarters in Ronkonkoma, New York, and at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in West Virginia. The part was produced via powder bed fusion, an additive manufacturing process that involves using laser beams to fuse together metal powders, one layer at a time. The use of 3D printing allowed for much construction to be completed much more quickly and inexpensively than other manufacturing techniques. It’s a very complex part, but 3D printing allows it to be built with fewer parts, and multiple prototypes can be churned out and tested quickly and cheaply."