Relativity Space 3D Prints 11-Foot-Tall Fuel Tank with Stargate 3D Printer

Relativity Space is not alone in wanting to 3D print rockets – there are plenty of companies with the goal of doing just that. What makes Relativity stand out, however, is that it has the means to 3D print entire rockets with almost no intervention from humans. The company’s massive Stargate 3D printer utilizes 18-foot-tall robotic arms equipped with lasers that can melt metal wire. Those robotic arms have the ability to stream about eight inches’ worth of metal onto a large turntable in just a second’s time. Directed by custom software, the robotic arms are capable of producing the entire body of the rocket in one piece.

Using a giant 3D printer allows Relativity Space to reduce the part count of a typical rocket from 100,000 to 1,000. This, needless to say, greatly saves on time, labor and money, which in turn saves customers millions of dollars per launch. Relativity intends for its rockets to carry large payloads, too, up to the size of a small car, which is six times the capability of its competitors, according to the company.

Relativity is a young company, founded in 2015, and just this year completed its Series B funding. It has already accomplished a great deal with the Stargate 3D printer, however, and its latest milestone was the 3D printing of an 11-foot-tall aluminum fuel tank. The 3D printer worked for three weeks to complete the tank, which will next be taken to NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Relativity Space signed an agreement with NASA for exclusive use of Stennis Space Center’s 25-acre E4 Test Complex. The facility also includes four large test cells rated for entire vehicles and engines and 15,000 square feet of specialized infrastructure. Relativity is investing its own capital to build upon the existing site, and is creating a permanent team to lead testing operations.

The agreement between Relativity and Stennis Space Center is Stennis’ first ever and will be in place for 20 years. Relativity Space will use the site to carry out complete development, qualification and acceptance testing of the Terran 1 rocket, a launch vehicle designed from scratch for constellation deployment and resupply. According to Relativity, the rocket will be one of the most cost-effective launch vehicles in the world.

Over the next year or two, Relativity Space plans to spend its time working on the development of the Terran 1’s first stage. The company is aiming for late 2020 or early 2021 for its first commercial launch. Long-term goals are a bit more out there – Relativity wants to build the first rocket on Mars. But with all the serious talk of going to Mars lately and the continued development of plans for building settlements on the Red Planet, Relativity’s goals may not be so far-out after all.

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[Images: Relativity Space]

 

Lockheed Martin 3D Prints Large Titanium Domes for Satellite Fuel Tanks

Global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin has made many significant contributions to its industry through the use of 3D printing, from propulsion tanks and spacecraft parts to missile components and fuel tanks. The company, which received three Edison Awards this year for ground-breaking innovations in autonomy, directed energy, and satellite technology, has been invested in the innovative technology for quite some time, and recently completed the largest 3D printed parts it’s ever created…so far.

In order to hold up under difficult launch conditions and decade-long missions in the zero gravity conditions of outer space, satellite fuel tanks need to be both lightweight and strong. Titanium is an obvious choice of material, but it can take over a year to acquire 4-foot-diameter, 4-inch-thick titanium forgings, which also increases the overall cost of the tank. Additionally, if traditional manufacturing methods are used to fabricate these forgings, over 80% of the material is wasted.

This infographic shows the scale of the 3D printed domes, their placement on the tank, and overall location within an LM 2100 satellite.

That’s why Lockheed Martin chose to employ 3D printing to create a record-setting, 46-inch-diameter titanium dome for its satellite fuel tanks.

“Our largest 3-D printed parts to date show we’re committed to a future where we produce satellites twice as fast and at half the cost. And we’re pushing forward for even better results,” Rick Ambrose, the Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin Space, explained. “For example, we shaved off 87 percent of the schedule to build the domes, reducing the total delivery timeline from two years to three months.”

The new fuel tank for Lockheed Martin’s largest satellites have 3D printed domes integrated into the body to cap them off.

The tank is made up of a traditionally manufactured, variable-length titanium cylinder, which is capped by two 3D printed domes; these three pieces are then welded together to make up the final product. Technicians at Lockheed Martin’s Denver facility fabricate the domes using Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) technology on a large 3D printer.

By 3D printing the domes, there is no longer any material waste, and the titanium is available to use with no wait time, which lowers the delivery time of the satellite tank from two years to just three months. This in turn helps the company cut its satellite schedule and costs by 50%.

“We self-funded this design and qualification effort as an investment in helping our customers move faster and save costs. These tanks are part of a total transformation in the way we design and deliver space technology,” said Ambrose. “We’re making great strides in automation, virtual reality design and commonality across our satellite product line. Our customers want greater speed and value without sacrificing capability in orbit, and we’re answering the call.”

These 3D printed tank domes are far bigger in size for the company’s qualified 3D printing materials – previously, its largest part was an electronics enclosure for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite program that was only the size of a toaster. That makes these domes, which are large enough to hold nearly 75 gallons of liquid, a pretty big leap.

A Lockheed Martin engineer inspects one of the 3D printed dome prototypes at the company’s space facility in Denver.

The final rounds of quality testing for the satellite fuel tank and its 3D printed domes were completed earlier this month, which finally ends a multi-year development program with the goal of successfully creating giant, high-pressure tanks to carry fuel on satellites. Lockheed Martin technicians and engineers spared nothing on their quest to ensure that the tanks would meet, and even exceed, the reliability and performance required by NASA, as even the tiniest of flaws or leaks could spell disaster for a satellite’s operations.

The structure of the vessel was “rigorously evaluated,” according to a release, and the company’s techs ran it through an entire suite of tests in order to demonstrate its repeatability and high tolerances. Lockheed Martin is now offering the large satellite fuel tank, complete with its two 3D printed domes, as one of the standard product options for its 2100 satellite buses.

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[Images: Lockheed Martin]

 

 

Lockheed Martin’s Contributions to 3D Printing

The aerospace industry was one of the first major advocates of 3D printing, as the industry has been a driving force in the evolution of this technology. The industry covers a wide range of commercial, industrial and military applications that demand state-of-the art technology for mission critical needs. At the forefront of 3D printing is Lockheed Martin, which serves as a clear leader through their ability to rapidly implement innovation and use of 3D printing across prototyping, tooling and production of components. Lockheed is able to create significant varying parts and designs that are cost effective, reliable and durable more so than traditional machining methods, due to the improvements of 3D printing technology.

The Research & Development Tax Credit

Enacted in 1981, the now permanent Federal Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit allows a credit that typically ranges from 4%-7% of eligible spending for new and improved products and processes. Qualified research must meet the following four criteria:

  • Must be technological in nature
  • Must be a component of the taxpayer’s business
  • Must represent R&D in the experimental sense and generally includes all such costs related to the development or improvement of a product or process
  • Must eliminate uncertainty through a process of experimentation that considers one or more alternatives

Eligible costs include US employee wages, cost of supplies consumed in the R&D process, cost of pre-production testing, US contract research expenses, and certain costs associated with developing a patent.

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the PATH Act, making the R&D Tax Credit permanent. Beginning in 2016, the R&D credit can be used to offset Alternative Minimum Tax, for companies with revenue below $50MM and for the first time, pre-profitable and pre-revenue startup businesses can obtain up to $250,000 per year in payroll taxes and cash rebates.

Remote Interface Unit

Lockheed Martin is planning, for the first time, to use additive manufacturing to develop a part that will be on a military satellite. The complex unit is an aluminum electronic enclosure designed to hold avionic circuits, and is a part that would require multiple components and processes to manufacture under regular machining. But with 3D printing, the parts total is reduced to just one, which in turn reduces manufacturing time from six months down to 1.5 months, as well as reducing assembly time from 12 hours to just 3 hours. Lockheed hopes this successful part can open more 3D printing opportunities for their several other extensive aerospace programs.

Orion Spacecraft

NASA’s Orion spacecraft is a program designed to send astronauts to the moon and beyond in a series of exploration missions. The craft is going to be made of more than 100 3D printed parts, the majority of them made by Lockheed Martin and using state-of-the art materials, like the new Antero thermoplastic material, which is designed to meet NASA’s requirements for heat and chemical resistance. The use of 3D parts was crucial for this program as nearly every piece that was 3D printed was more efficient than traditional parts and reduced costs to the spacecraft overall.

Fuel Tanks

Lockheed Martin, in partnership with Stratasys’ RedEye 3D printer, were able to develop large fuel tanks that store propellant for satellites. The largest fuel tank was as large as 15 feet long, the largest piece ever manufactured by a RedEye printer and one of the largest aerospace parts ever made by a 3D printer. The fuel tanks themselves are the first ever successful ones to be produced through additive manufacturing, and were done in a highly condensed time frame for nearly half the cost of machining the parts. Due to the sheer size of these parts, Lockheed built several smaller parts to fuse together and finalize the product in time to market a competitive contract bid process. They would not have been able to do this had they machined the parts.

Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile

Lockheed Martin has been the primary ballistic missile contractor for the US Navy since 1955 and nothing has changed as they remain the primary supplier. Lockheed was called upon to develop another ballistic missile that would be known as the Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile. This is a three-stage missile that can travel an average range of 4,000 nautical miles while carrying multiple independently targeted missiles. Within the missile is a 3D printed component that is similar to the one used on Lockheed Martin’s satellites. The one-inch wide aluminum alloy piece is a connector backshell component that protects vital cable connectors in the missile. The component was designed and fabricated using only 3D design and printing methods that allowed engineers at Lockheed to produce this part in half the time it would take with machining methods.

Our articles published in Lockheed’s major business areas are presented below:

Aerospace Aerospace Mega Trends Driving 3D Printer Usage
Satellites The R&D Tax Credit Aspects of 3D Printed Telecommunications
Helicopters The R&D Tax Credit Aspects of 3D Printing Helicopter Parts
Drones 3D Printed Drones and the UAS Integration Pilot Program
Avionics The R&D Tax Credit Aspects of Avionics

Conclusion

Lockheed Martin is undeniably a leading manufacturer of all things relating to the aerospace industry. Not only do they produce high quality and critical products, but they consistently find ways to innovate and stay steps ahead of the field with the use of additive manufacturing to bolster their already highly advanced product lines. Lockheed expanded this vast production through the acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft, the leading helicopter manufacturer, which will gain a boost in their existing additive manufacturing capabilities after joining the Lockheed portfolio. The continued integration of 3D printing and large acquisitions is allowing Lockheed to develop parts that are giving aircraft extended service lives, reduced fuel costs, weight reduction and increased strength.

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Charles Goulding & Ryan Donley of R&D Tax Savers discuss Lockheed Martin.