Apr. 15, 2015 | By Simon
With all of the excitement surrounding space exploration and the use of rockets in getting us there - thanks in no small part to efforts from Elon Musk and his team at SpaceX - it should come with little surprise that interest in rocket engines and rockets in general have also been on the upswing. Of course, with this being 2015, many have been looking at how rockets can be made better or more efficiently with...what else...additive manufacturing technologies.
The use of 3D printing in rocket manufacturing makes plenty of sense when one takes a closer look at the complexities and costs involved: rocket science is among one of the most challenging types of engineering known to man and the cost of sending a rocket into space can easily top $100 million. Needless to say, cutting costs where possible without sacrificing a mission can have a drastic impact on the overall cost and final design - however most of that design starts with not the rocket itself but rather, the rocket’s engine.
“If you look at a launch vehicle and where the bulk of the cost derives from, you quickly arrive at the rocket engine,” said Peter Beck, CEO of private spaceflight company Rocket Lab. “It’s really difficult to build a low-cost rocket engine, and one you can produce in large numbers.”
Yesterday, at the Space Symposium in Colorado, the New Zealand-based Rocket Lab unveiled their brand-new rocket engine that was designed to drastically cut down the cost of space travel. The rocket engine, named Rutherford (after New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford), is not only nearly completely made from 3D printed parts, but is also the world’s first battery-powered rocket engine - the Electron launch system.
The Rutherford Engine is an electric turbo-pumped LOX/RP-1 engine that was specifically designed for the Electron launch vehicle, which is capable of 4,600 lbf thrust and with an ISP of 327 s. Among other advancements, the Rutherford adopts an entirely new propulsion cycle, making use of brushless DC motors and high performance Lithium Polymer batteries to drive its turbo pumps.
The Electron uses two variants of the Rutherford engine, a sea level and a vacuum engine. The vacuum variant differs only in nozzle shape, which is tailored to suit the vacuum conditions outside Earth’s atmosphere. The duplicate engine design for both stages makes Electron highly optimized for fast production.
The engine parts were created using electron beam melting, which is similar to selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printing techniques however it used an electron beam rather than a laser to melt and fuse metal powders. In total, the engine chamber, injector, turbopumps and main propellent halves were created using this unique method of additive manufacturing.
“Historically, the time and expense to launch small satellites have been prohibitive, costing many millions of dollars and requiring endless patience and flexibility waiting for months to ‘hitch a ride’ to space,” added Beck during the unveiling. “With Electron, companies can launch whenever they would like, at a substantially more affordable cost. This monumental advancement in space technology gives satellite-reliant businesses the freedom they have been waiting for, which will lead to vast improvements in how we use satellite technology in space.”
In contrast to the over $100 million estimated cost of launching a rocket into space using more traditional methods that use fuel and non-3D printed components, Rocket Lab estimates that it will cost just $4.9 million for each liftoff of their own 65-foot long rocket. Additionally, the use of 3D printing for the creation of all of the engine components allows for the engineers to make changes near-instantly and be able to produce new parts in a matter of days rather than weeks or months - thus dramatically speeding up the rate of innovation.
Between the efforts we’ve seen from both Musk and his SpaceX team as well as this recent news from Rocket Lab, it looks like private space travel might not be too far off as we had previously thought - thanks in no small part to 3D printing.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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I like . I am looking to find ink similar to rexolite allowing to print part for ultrasonic purpose . Do you know
Rocket Amadeus wrote at 4/16/2015 11:21:02 AM:
It powers the pumps providing LOX and RP-1 (fancy name for filtered kerosene)
Riverghost wrote at 4/16/2015 10:50:26 AM:
Think they are referring to the Turbo pumps, which previously operated somewhat like gas turbines. this element of rocketry is pretty key, i mean up to 55% of the engine cost can sometimes be this specific element. Very impressive work, id love to see how the big boys like SpaceX take this on.
bastiaan wrote at 4/16/2015 1:07:31 AM:
battery-powered? what part is battery-powered, the gimbeling? it surly uses fuel right.
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