UK PHOTONICS NEWS Trumpf to 3D-print spacecraft engine components T


rumpf is partnering with European space-travel start-up The Exploration


Company to additively manufacture space components for commercial space missions. As early as spring 2024, the


Exploration Company will use Trumpf’s 3D printers at its site in Planegg, near Munich, to print the core components for its spacecraft engines. The


aim is to make the engines re-usable and re-fuelable in orbit. Trumpf will contribute production technology as well as manufacturing and application expertise. The start-up plans to send a space capsule to orbit the earth for several months in an initial mission in 2026, and further missions are planned to the moon from 2028. “With our


3D printing technology, we are driving the commercialisation of the space-travel industry. If you want to be successful in the space-travel industry today, you have to use additive manufacturing,” says Tobias Brune, responsible for the additive manufacturing business at Trumpf. Additive manufacturing helps to save valuable raw materials


as well as enabling rapid prototype development, which is normally a long process in the aerospace industry. With design software, users can make improvements to prototypes virtually, and a 3D printer can then produce the new prototype within hours. The Exploration Company has so far raised €65m from private and public investors.


Laser-powered metal 3D printer delivered to space station


A An artist’s impression of Fibertek’s Lunar Infrastructure Optical Node (LION) system in action on the moon


Fibertek to explore laser power beaming and comms for lunar base


A


specialist in optical technologies for space and airborne


applications is to explore the use of lasers in power beaming and long-range optical communications in a moon colony as part of a DARPA study. The Defense Advanced


Research Projects Agency (DARPA) named Fibertek as one of the 14 companies selected for the 10-Year Lunar Architecture Capability Study (LunA-10). The study aims to pioneer


technologies and define integrated frameworks for


6 Electro Optics March 2024


commercially sustainable and monetisable lunar infrastructure. It brings together a group of companies, including Blue Origin, CisLunar Industries; Crescent Space Services; Firefly Aerospace; GITAI; Helios; Honeybee Robotics; ICON; Nokia of America; Northrop Grumman; Redwire Corporation; Sierra Space and SpaceX. Fibertek’s part in the study


will involve both advancing optical power beaming, to efficiently transmit electricity via laser beams, and developing optical communication systems to enhance data transmission


capabilities on and off the lunar surface. “This program leverages over


20 years of Fibertek’s successful space laser technology and adds to NASA’s investment in our optical communications terminals,” said Mark Storm, Fibertek’s Director of NASA Programs and LunA-10 Principal Investigator. On his LinkedIn page, Storm added some detail to Fibertek’s plan: “We’re also working on something new, laser power beaming, aka Optical Wireless Power Transmission. Looking at kW lasers on the moon and potentially in satellites.”


laser-powered 3D metal printer the size of a washing machine


has been delivered to the International Space Station (ISS), allowing astronauts to perform metal additive manufacturing (AM) in orbit for the first time. The new printer will use


stainless steel wire and a high- powered laser to create test parts. The five-year Metal3D project was commissioned by the European Space Agency and led by Airbus Defence and Space, working in partnership with Cranfield University, AddUp and Highftech. Academics at Cranfield


were involved in designing the printer’s melting process and hardware, as well as its laser source, delivery optics, feedstock storage and feeding system. Dr Wojciech Suder, who is


the senior lecturer in Laser Processing and Additive Manufacturing in Cranfield University’s Welding and Additive Manufacturing Centre, led on the design for the printer. “The purpose is to see the effect of microgravity on 3D metal printing,” he said. “If we can understand this


more, we can find out how to best use this technology in space in the future.”


@electrooptics | www.electrooptics.com


Fibertek


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