The Orion spacecraft docking hatch door was 3D printed with Stratasys Antero 800NA.
NASA's Orion deep-space spacecraft is to go into space featuring 100 3D printed production parts thanks to a joint effort from Stratasys and Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc. (PADT) with Lockheed Martin Space.
Orion's next test flight, Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), will be the first integration mission with the world's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, where 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 and for the first time since 1972 will have astronauts on board.
The parts will be printed at Lockheed Martin's Additive Manufacturing Lab in Stratasys advanced materials including ULTEM 9085 and an ESD (electro-static dissipative) variant of the new Antero 800NA, a PEKK-based thermoplastic offering high performance mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties.
"Working with PADT, Stratasys, and NASA has enabled us to achieve highly consistent builds that move beyond the realm of prototyping and into production," said Brian Kaplun, Manager of Additive Manufacturing at Lockheed Martin Space. "We're not just creating parts, we're reshaping our production strategy to make spacecraft more affordable and faster to produce."
Lockheed Martin is one of the first customers using Stratasys’ Antero material.
Lockheed Martin is one of the first customers using Stratasys' Antero which has been applied to 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.
"The demands of space travel require extremely high performance materials and the most rigorous manufacturing processes in the industry. Part integrity and repeatability are essential and must pass NASA's demanding testing and validation process," said Scott Sevcik, Vice President of Manufacturing at Stratasys. "Based on decades of experience delivering strong and lightweight additive manufacturing solutions for leaders across the aerospace industry, Stratasys technology is ideally suited to match the high-reliability manufacturing processes required for production parts in space exploration."
Rey Chu, Principal and Co-Owner at PADT added: "It's exciting to be a part of the Orion mission and Lockheed Martin's efforts to transition additive manufacturing from prototyping to production. Additive manufacturing technology and materials have come a long way to become a full-fledged end-use manufacturing option."
NASA has been an advocate for 3D printing in space for several years, launching the first zero-gravity 3D printer into space in 2014 with Made In Space and applying the technology to a number of mission and test components such as radiation shields and rocket injectors.
