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3D Printed Spacecraft Parts

Stratasys Ltd.
Eden Prairie, MN
952-937-3000
www.stratasys.com/aerospace
Phoenix Analysis and Design
Technologies (PADT) Tempe, AZ
1-800-293-PADT
www.padtinc.com

Stratasys Ltd., a company that specializes in applied additive technology solutions, and Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc. (PADT) have teamed up with Lockheed Martin Space to deliver next-generation 3D printed parts for NASA's Orion deep-space spacecraft. Key to the project are Stratasys advanced materials – including an ESD variant of the new Antero™ 800NA, a PEKK-based thermoplastic offering high performance mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties.

The Orion spacecraft leverages a variant of new Stratasys Antero 800NA to build an intricately-connected 3D printed docking hatch door.

Orion is NASA's spacecraft that will send astronauts to the Moon and beyond. Orion's next test flight, dubbed Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), will be the first integration mission with the world's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, where an un-crewed Orion will fly thousands of miles beyond the Moon during an approximately three-week mission.

The following flight, EM-2, will also go near the Moon, but with astronauts on-board, a first since 1972. That mission will enable NASA to prepare for increasingly complex missions in deep space. The mission will use more than one hundred 3D printed production parts on-board, engineered in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, Stratasys and PADT.

The production-grade, thermoplastic 3D printed parts for NASA's Orion vehicle are produced at the Additive Manufacturing Lab at Lockheed Martin in conjunction with PADT, which now employs the latest in Stratasys 3D printers and materials. Using advanced materials such as ULTEM 9085™ resin and the new Antero material incorporating critical electro-static dissipative (ESD) functionality, NASA could meet key requirements for 3D printed parts to perform in the extremes of deep space. Antero is ideally suited to meet NASA's requirements for heat and chemical resistance, along with the ability to withstand high mechanical loads.

The Lockheed Martin, Stratasys and PADT-engineered collaboration is differentiated by an ability to create consistency and repeatability in mass scale across the entire additive manufacturing part production process. Lockheed Martin is also one of the first customers leveraging Stratasys’ Antero, using the new thermoplastic for a critical part situated just outside of Orion's docking hatch. The complex part consists of six individual 3D printed components locked together to form a ring on the craft's exterior.

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Topics:
3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Additive manufacturing Aerospace Defense Flight tests Manufacturing & Prototyping Manufacturing processes Materials Parts Plastics Plastics Polymers Production Spacecraft Thermal Management Thermal management Thermodynamics Thermoplastics Vehicles

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    This article first appeared in the August, 2018 issue of Aerospace & Defense Technology Magazine.

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