Juno Took 3D-Printed Parts Further Into Space Than Ever
NASA's Juno is already exploring the boundaries of spacecraft tech through its use of solar panels, but that's not all. Juno is the also first planetary spacecraft to use 3D-printed materials.
Built by weapons and aerospace company Lockheed Martin, which regularly uses 3D printing for prototypes and flight-ready parts, Juno was a prime candidate for 3D-printed parts as the technique reduces costs, cuts lead time, and leads to lighter materials being used.
Juno is outfitted with eight 3D-printed waveguide titanium brackets. By using 3D printing, "we were allowed to take half the cost out and half the schedule out for these parts that did go on the Juno spacecraft," says Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Fellow Slade Gardner. These brackets, according to Lockheed, are "used to attach the waveguide, a rectangular pipe used for conducting radio frequency signals between spacecraft components."
Because these brackets would be traveling further than any 3D-printed item in history-over 1.7 billion miles-Lockheed relied on an Arcam powder bed machine to make the parts out of titanium.
During the process, titanium powder is placed in an argon chamber. Then an electron beam (which is like a laser, except made out of electrons) moves across the bed, making the pattern desired. Eventually, the beam moves downward and a knife's blade pushes more titanium powder over the top surface.
While these brackets are the first instance of 3D-printed objects traveling deep into space, the process is currently under testing for much more sophisticated jobs than just holding some components together. NASA has already tested fire-tested a prototype rocket engine made primarily of 3D-printed parts as well as a 3D-printed turbopump for delivering fuel to such an engine. Of course neither of those have gone into space yet, much less on a trip to Jupiter.
The brackets are reportedly functioning as well the rest of Juno, showing that 3D printing has a chance of becoming a regular part of space travel. Talking about the state of 3D printing in 2014, Gardner declared that "[n]othing is holding us back. It's simply a matter of putting in the time and doing the engineering."
So far, so good.
Source: Engineering
