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Indian space startup Agnikul used a 3-D printer from German company EOS to print an engine out of inconel, a high-performance nickel-chromium alloy, in one solid piece over the course of roughly 72 hours. While other companies like Relativity Space and Rocket Lab are using 3-D printers extensively, Agnikul's engine is unique in being printed in one go, rather than as multiple components that need to be stitched together. This approach significantly speeds up manufacturing time. The single-engine technology demonstration rocket produced 6 kilonewtons of thrust and reached an altitude of 6.5 kilometers before splashing down into the ocean. The launch vehicle used was about 6 meters tall with a single engine, making it roughly equivalent to the second stage of the company's planned commercial product, Agnibaan. Agnibaan will be a two-stage rocket, 18 meters tall, featuring eight engines in total, and capable of carrying a 300-kilogram payload to an altitude of around 700 km. The company believes that their 3D printing approach opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites. IEEE Spectrum adds: Assembling the rest of the rocket and integrating the engine took roughly two weeks. The company says that opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites, which otherwise need to wait for a ride share on a bigger rocket. The big challenge now will be going from a single engine to a cluster of seven on Agnibaan's first stage, says cofounder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran. This raises all kinds of challenges, from balancing thrust across the engines at lift-off to managing engine plume interactions when the engines gimbal to alter the trajectory. "But these are problems that people have figured out," he says. "We believe that we should just be able to fine-tune it for our mission and go." The company is currently building facilities to carry out ground tests of engine clusters, says Ravichandran, and is targeting its first orbital launch for this time next year. https://lnkd.in/greAC_Vm

As AgniKul Cosmos gears up for its suborbital launch aboard its 3D-printed Agnilet engine, I spoke with the company's co-founder Professor Satya Chakravarthy about the company's vision to be a truly international company with launching capabilities, not just from Indian but anywhere in the world owing to its portable and flexible launchpad. Professor Satya expanded on how the use of 3D printing technology for engine components enables the company to reduce the number of parts significantly, streamline production, and ultimately lower launch costs. He also emphasised the importance of 3D printing, especially for small satellite players who seek rapid and cost-effective launch opportunities. “If you don’t do 3D printing, you are actually incurring the need for literally about a thousand parts and about some 3,000 spots to put them together,” the IIT professor believes. It also reduces wait times for satellite launches, enabling a rapid response to launch opportunities for small satellite players. Satya who is also a co-founder of another prominent Indian space-tech startup like Pixxel, spoke about the vision of the company he co-founded with Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM, and Janardhana Raju He also revealed that the vision going ahead is to move orbital launches, with plans to diversify services by accommodating larger payloads in the 200-300 kg range. Read the story for more details:

At Precision Quincy, we have the privilege of working with customers at the vanguard of innovation in manufacturing. We design and fabricate industrial ovens for applications that run the gamut: from working with cutting edge alloys and composite materials, to leveraging 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques, to utilizing the technologies underlying buzz words like Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT). We love working with innovative customers because designing, engineering, and manufacturing great products is at the core of our company culture. Innovation in manufacturing is driven by moonshot goals, and there is nothing more “moonshot” than the prospect of manufacturing in space. Our moonshot goal is to be an integral supplier to industries that manufacture in space. #manufacturing #innovation #engineering #outerspace #industrial

At Precision Quincy, we have the privilege of working with customers at the vanguard of innovation in manufacturing. We design and fabricate industrial ovens for applications that run the gamut: from working with cutting edge alloys and composite materials, to leveraging 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques, to utilizing the technologies underlying buzz words like Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT). We love working with innovative customers because designing, engineering, and manufacturing great products is at the core of our company culture. Innovation in manufacturing is driven by moonshot goals, and there is nothing more “moonshot” than the prospect of manufacturing in space. Our moonshot goal is to be an integral supplier to industries that manufacture in space. https://lnkd.in/e73YH5mx #innovation #manufacturing #heattreatment #compositematerials

𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐀’𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 NASA recently built and tested an additively-manufactured – or 3D printed – rocket engine nozzle made of aluminum, making it lighter than conventional nozzles and setting the course for deep space flights that can carry more payloads. Under the agency’s Announcement of Collaborative Opportunity, engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, partnered with Elementum 3D, in Erie, Colorado, to create a weldable type of aluminum that is heat resistant enough for use on rocket engines. Compared to other metals, aluminum is lower density and allows for high-strength, lightweight components. However, due to its low tolerance to extreme heat and its tendency to crack during welding, aluminum is not typically used for additive manufacturing of rocket engine parts – until now. Meet NASA’s latest development under the Reactive Additive Manufacturing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or RAMFIRE, project. Funded under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), RAMFIRE focuses on advancing lightweight, additively manufactured aluminum rocket nozzles. The nozzles are designed with small internal channels that keep the nozzle cool enough to prevent melting. At the RPM Innovation (RPMI) facility in Rapid City, South Dakota, manufacturing for a large-scale aerospike demonstration nozzle with integral channels is underway. The laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) process creates a melt pool using a laser and blows powder into the melt pool to deposit material layer by layer. NASA engineers will use the nozzle as a proof of concept to inform future component designs. With conventional manufacturing methods, a nozzle may require as many as a thousand individually joined parts. The RAMFIRE nozzle is built as a single piece, requiring far fewer bonds and significantly reduced manufacturing time.  NASA and ELEMENTUM 3D first developed the novel aluminum variant known as A6061-RAM2 to build the nozzle and modify the powder used with laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) technology. Another commercial partner, RPM Innovations (RPMI) in Rapid City, South Dakota, used the newly invented aluminum and specialized powder to build the RAMFIRE nozzles using their LP-DED process. “Industry partnerships with specialty manufacturing vendors aid in advancing the supply base and help make additive manufacturing more accessible for NASA missions and the broader commercial and aerospace industry,” Paul Gradl, RAMFIRE principal investigator at NASA Marshall, said. Source: NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration #additivemanufacturing #3dprinting #NASA #Aerospaceengineering #metalprinting

At Precision Quincy, we have the privilege of working with customers at the vanguard of innovation in manufacturing. We design and fabricate industrial ovens for applications that run the gamut: from working with cutting edge alloys and composite materials, to leveraging 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques, to utilizing the technologies underlying buzz words like Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT). We love working with innovative customers because designing, engineering, and manufacturing great products is at the core of our company culture. Innovation in manufacturing is driven by moonshot goals, and there is nothing more “moonshot” than the prospect of manufacturing in space. Our moonshot goal is to be an integral supplier to industries that manufacture in space. #manufacturing #industrial #industrialmanufacturing #heattreating #heattreatment #innovation #composites #materials #additivemanufacturing

At Precision Quincy, we have the privilege of working with customers at the vanguard of innovation in manufacturing. We design and fabricate industrial ovens for applications that run the gamut: from working with cutting edge alloys and composite materials, to leveraging 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques, to utilizing the technologies underlying buzz words like Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT). We love working with innovative customers because designing, engineering, and manufacturing great products is at the core of our company culture. Innovation in manufacturing is driven by moonshot goals, and there is nothing more “moonshot” than the prospect of manufacturing in space. Our moonshot goal is to be an integral supplier to industries that manufacture in space. #innovation #manufacturing #industrial #industrialapplications #heattreatment #heattreating

Indian Startup 3D Prints Rocket Engine in Just 72 Hours: cusco writes: Indian space startup Agnikul used a 3-D printer from German company EOS to print an engine out of inconel, a high-performance nickel-chromium alloy, in one solid piece over the course of roughly 72 hours. While other companies like Relativity Space and Rocket Lab are using 3-D printers extensively, Agnikul's engine is unique in being printed in one go, rather than as multiple components that need to be stitched together. This approach significantly speeds up manufacturing time. The single-engine technology demonstration rocket produced 6 kilonewtons of thrust and reached an altitude of 6.5 kilometers before splashing down into the ocean. The launch vehicle used was about 6 meters tall with a single engine, making it roughly equivalent to the second stage of the company's planned commercial product, Agnibaan. Agnibaan will be a two-stage rocket, 18 meters tall, featuring eight engines in total, and capable of carrying a 300-kilogram payload to an altitude of around 700 km. The company believes that their 3D printing approach opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites. IEEE Spectrum adds: Assembling the rest of the rocket and integrating the engine took roughly two weeks. The company says that opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites, which otherwise need to wait for a ride share on a bigger rocket. The big challenge now will be going from a single engine to a cluster of seven on Agnibaan's first stage, says cofounder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran. This raises all kinds of challenges, from balancing thrust across the engines at lift-off to managing engine plume interactions when the engines gimbal to alter the trajectory. "But these are problems that people have figured out," he says. "We believe that we should just be able to fine-tune it for our mission and go." The company is currently building facilities to carry out ground tests of engine clusters, says Ravichandran, and is targeting its first orbital launch for this time next year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Indian Startup 3D Prints Rocket Engine in Just 72 Hours: cusco writes: Indian space startup Agnikul used a 3-D printer from German company EOS to print an engine out of inconel, a high-performance nickel-chromium alloy, in one solid piece over the course of roughly 72 hours. While other companies like Relativity Space and Rocket Lab are using 3-D printers extensively, Agnikul's engine is unique in being printed in one go, rather than as multiple components that need to be stitched together. This approach significantly speeds up manufacturing time. The single-engine technology demonstration rocket produced 6 kilonewtons of thrust and reached an altitude of 6.5 kilometers before splashing down into the ocean. The launch vehicle used was about 6 meters tall with a single engine, making it roughly equivalent to the second stage of the company's planned commercial product, Agnibaan. Agnibaan will be a two-stage rocket, 18 meters tall, featuring eight engines in total, and capable of carrying a 300-kilogram payload to an altitude of around 700 km. The company believes that their 3D printing approach opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites. IEEE Spectrum adds: Assembling the rest of the rocket and integrating the engine took roughly two weeks. The company says that opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites, which otherwise need to wait for a ride share on a bigger rocket. The big challenge now will be going from a single engine to a cluster of seven on Agnibaan's first stage, says cofounder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran. This raises all kinds of challenges, from balancing thrust across the engines at lift-off to managing engine plume interactions when the engines gimbal to alter the trajectory. "But these are problems that people have figured out," he says. "We believe that we should just be able to fine-tune it for our mission and go." The company is currently building facilities to carry out ground tests of engine clusters, says Ravichandran, and is targeting its first orbital launch for this time next year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Indian Startup 3D Prints Rocket Engine in Just 72 Hours: cusco writes: Indian space startup Agnikul used a 3-D printer from German company EOS to print an engine out of inconel, a high-performance nickel-chromium alloy, in one solid piece over the course of roughly 72 hours. While other companies like Relativity Space and Rocket Lab are using 3-D printers extensively, Agnikul's engine is unique in being printed in one go, rather than as multiple components that need to be stitched together. This approach significantly speeds up manufacturing time. The single-engine technology demonstration rocket produced 6 kilonewtons of thrust and reached an altitude of 6.5 kilometers before splashing down into the ocean. The launch vehicle used was about 6 meters tall with a single engine, making it roughly equivalent to the second stage of the company's planned commercial product, Agnibaan. Agnibaan will be a two-stage rocket, 18 meters tall, featuring eight engines in total, and capable of carrying a 300-kilogram payload to an altitude of around 700 km. The company believes that their 3D printing approach opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites. IEEE Spectrum adds: Assembling the rest of the rocket and integrating the engine took roughly two weeks. The company says that opens the door to providing low-cost, "on-demand" launch services to operators of small satellites, which otherwise need to wait for a ride share on a bigger rocket. The big challenge now will be going from a single engine to a cluster of seven on Agnibaan's first stage, says cofounder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran. This raises all kinds of challenges, from balancing thrust across the engines at lift-off to managing engine plume interactions when the engines gimbal to alter the trajectory. "But these are problems that people have figured out," he says. "We believe that we should just be able to fine-tune it for our mission and go." The company is currently building facilities to carry out ground tests of engine clusters, says Ravichandran, and is targeting its first orbital launch for this time next year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.