SECTION TITLE
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
SPACE-GOING SOLUTIONS
3D printing is being used to create parts for a lunar rover project, enabling the engineers to design, develop and test autonomous systems and processes
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n alliance with General Motors, Lockheed Martin is developing a new fully autonomous lunar rover that could be used for NASA’s Artemis
programme. Some elements of the rover’s autonomy system’s early design and development is done at Lockheed Martin’s state-of-the art R&D facility in California, the Advanced Technology Center (ATC), which is well-equipped with a variety of advanced technology, including a lab full of 3D printers. “A lot of what we’re able to help with at the 3D printing lab at ATC is really enabling our engineers to create a range of applications, such as test beds, sensor mounts and prototypes, that further advance the technologies we’re working on,” says Alyssa Ruiz, research engineer and lab manager at the ATC. Prototyping is always an important
part of the design process because it allows engineers to test in a real-world environment before going into production – which in aerospace means manufacturing low-volume products in expensive materials. Finding issues later in production could mean expensive cost and time overruns.
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3D printers are capable of creating parts on-demand with little to no manual labour – straight from a CAD file, making them the ideal tools for prototyping. Printed prototypes are quick and easy to iterate on with very little cost. Prototyping through an external shop or service bureau could cost 10 times more to make and take 10 times longer to get the part in hand. “Tere’s a huge benefit to having the 3D printers on site. Without them, we would have to send parts out for machining, which would require us to go through
a long, cumbersome and expensive procurement process. Te 3D printers at our lab help with the efficiency of prototyping, getting parts out, and making sure that we can meet schedules and budgets,” states Ruiz. With customers asking for faster iterations and quicker technology insertions, Lockheed Martin had to quickly adapt to these increasing demands. Digital transformation is allowing the company to accelerate these changes, and
Alyssa Ruiz inspects a 3D printed electronics housing in the ATC lab
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