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--------------------- 2640 - 3D PRINTING - how rockets are to be built?-
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- It amazes me how the printer attached to my computer can print a page in seconds. That is just two dimensional printing I can produce a complete library Imagine printing in 3 dimensions. Now imagine printing an entire rocket with a 3D printer. What else could a 3D printer produce?
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- Relativity Space, a startup company that wants to combine 3D printing and artificial intelligence to do for the rocket what Henry Ford did for the automobile.
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- This company claims it can make rockets anywhere. Even on the Moon! Relativity wants to not just build rockets, but to build them on Mars. How exactly?
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- Relativity’s Los Angeles headquarters has four of the largest metal 3D printers in the world, churning out rocket parts day and night. The latest model of the company’s proprietary printer, dubbed “Stargate“, stands 30 feet tall and has two massive robotic arms that protrude like tentacles from the machine.
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- The Stargate printers will manufacture about 95 percent, by mass, of Relativity’s first rocket, named “Terran-1“. The only parts that won’t be printed are the electronics, cables, and a handful of moving parts and rubber gaskets.
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- To make a rocket 3D-printable it will have 100 times fewer parts than a comparable rocket. Its Aeon engine consists of just 100 parts, whereas a typical liquid-fueled rocket would have thousands.
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- By consolidating parts and optimizing them for 3D printing, Relativity will be able to go from raw materials to the launch pad in just 60 days. However, Relativity hasn’t yet assembled a full Terran-1 and doesn’t expect the rocket to fly until 2021 at the earliest.
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- A full-scale test will be the biggest milestone for Relativity to prove this new technology. Fully assembled, Terran-1 will stand about 100 feet tall, and be capable of delivering satellites weighing up to 2,800 pounds to low Earth orbit.
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- That puts it above small satellite launchers like Rocket Lab’s “Electron” but well under the payload capacity of massive rockets like SpaceX’s “Falcon 9“. It will be particularly well-suited to carrying medium-sized satellites.
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- Relativity isn’t the only rocket company using 3D printing, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, and others also use it to print select parts. 3D-printed rockets are the key to transporting critical infrastructure to and from the surface of Mars. These rockets could be used to loft science experiments into orbit around Mars or return samples to Earth.
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- At the heart of Relativity’s robotic rocket factory is Stargate, the largest metal 3D printer in the world. The first version of Stargate is about 15 feet tall and consists of three robotic arms. The arms are used to weld metal, monitor the printer’s progress, and correct for defects.
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- To print a large component, such as a fuel tank or rocket body, the printer feeds miles of a thin, custom-made aluminum alloy wire along the length of an arm to its tip, where a plasma arc melts the metal.
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- The arm then deposits the molten metal in thin layers, orchestrating its movements according to patterns programmed in the machine’s software. Meanwhile, the printer head at the tip of the arm blows out a non-oxidizing gas to create a sort of “clean room” at the deposition site.
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- Every new iteration of the Stargate printer has been significantly bigger than the last, allowing it to churn out very large rocket parts in one piece. Relativity now has a new version of Stargate that can, in a single go, print even bigger components, like the rocket’s fairing or fuel chambers.
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- The Stargate printers work well when you need to print large parts quickly, but for parts that require more precision, such as the rocket’s engine, Relativity uses the same commercially available metal 3D printers that other aerospace companies use. These printers use a different printing technique, in which a laser welds together layers of ultra-fine stainless steel dust.
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- The real secret to Relativity’s rockets is the artificial intelligence that tells the printer what to do. Before a print, Relativity runs a simulation of what the print should look like. As the arms deposit metal, a suite of sensors captures visual, environmental, and even audio data. Relativity’s software then compares the two to improve the printing process.
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- With every new part, the machine learning algorithm gets better, until it will eventually be able to correct 3D prints on its own. In the future, the 3D printer will recognize its own mistakes, cutting and adding metal until it produces flawless parts.
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- Relativity has already inked deals worth several hundred million dollars with several major satellite operators. Once they have a complete rocket, it will be ready to ship it to Launch Complex-16 at Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, where Relativity holds a long-term launchpad lease, alongside SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the United Launch Alliance.
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- The first flight of an entirely 3D printed rocket will be a major moment in space exploration, but for Relativity it will be just the start of its long journey to Mars.
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- What next for 3D printing technology? Almost anything you can imagine!
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- February 29, 2020 2640
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--------------------- Saturday, February 29, 2020 --------------------
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