Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2024 - 43

SPINOFF
S
peed is everything in rocketry. To get
into low-Earth orbit, a spacecraft needs
to hit velocities around 17,000 mph. And
any company building a commercial
rocket must have it designed, built, tested,
and flying payloads as fast as possible.
For the last decade or more, even as it's
been finalizing its own heavy-lift rocket,
NASA has also been adding to the nation's
launch fleet by helping several commercial
space companies reach that finish line.
And some of them are accelerating their
journey by unconventional means.
Most recently, after about five years of
cooperative efforts with NASA, Relativity
Space's Terran 1 rocket became the first
3D-printed rocket to reach space during a
March 2023 launch. The company aims to
use its rockets to offer affordable rides
into space for commercial satellites and
other payloads.
Under a series of Space Act Agreements,
Relativity has worked closely with
engineers at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, on developing
3D-printed engines and the company
has been testing those engines at the
agency's Stennis Space Center.
" NASA has certainly helped accelerate
the progress we've been making across propulsion,
across test and launch infrastructure,
and in the flight of our vehicles, " said
Scott Van Vliet, Current Advisor and former
Senior VP of Software Engineering,
Avionics, and Additive Manufacturing at
Relativity, which is based in Long Beach,
CA. Additive manufacturing, he said, has
helped the company speed its development
in part by combining the design and
build phases.
The Terran 1 rocket was 85 percent 3D
printed by mass, with the body built by Relativity's
Stargate printer using what the
company calls wire arc additive manufacturing.
But printing the engine took some
help from NASA.
Compared to other parts of the vehicle,
" a rocket engine has the longest developmental
lead time and comes with the most
risk because of the extreme environments
Tech Briefs, April 2024
Spinoff is NASA's annual publication featuring
successfully commercialized NASA technology. This
commercialization has contributed to the development
of products and services in the fields of health and
medicine, consumer goods, transportation, public safety,
computer technology, and environmental resources.
Additive Manufacturing Subtracts from Rocket Build Time
NASA's teamwork on 3D printing and testing engines makes company's launch services more
affordable.
Nine Aeon 1 engines fill out the business end
of the first stage of Relativity Space's Terran 1
rocket. The engines were built and tested with
help from NASA. (Image: Relativity Space Inc.)
Relativity Space's Terran 1 rocket sits on the
Launch Complex 16 launch pad at Kennedy
Space Center. (Image: Trevor Mahlmann)
and manufacturing challenges, " said Paul
Gradl, Principal Engineer of Component
Development at Marshall. " It's operating
from cryogenic all the way up through
6,000 °F and at very high pressures, pushing
the materials to their limits. "
Gradl has been leading NASA's research
into 3D printing engine components and
working directly with Relativity and other
companies to get that technology out into
the private sector.
Every week, a team of Relativity engineers
meets virtually with Gradl and his
team to discuss the company's progress
and share ideas, said Jake Shearman, Senior
Manager of Combustion Devices at
Relativity. He noted that Marshall constantly
generates new information about
3D printing materials and design, helpwww.techbriefs.com
ing
the company stay abreast of the state
of the art. They also occasionally meet in
person to let the NASA engineers take a
look at Relativity's latest hardware and offer
input, he added. Gradl also helped
the company incorporate a copper-chromium-niobium
alloy that NASA invented,
known as GRCop-42, which has proven
especially adaptable to AM.
NASA has been interested in AM because
it offers the opportunity to produce
and test parts faster, in addition to performance
benefits. What used to be 200 pieces
welded together can now be printed as one
or two solid parts. " And with that, I think
the biggest advantage is the cost and schedule
savings, " said Gradl. " We are able to reduce
the lead time of some of these parts
by two to 10 times, and with that comes a
huge cost savings. "
Relativity likewise benefits from the ability
to produce higher-performance engines,
but Van Vliet said the short lead
time for producing new parts is also the
biggest advantage the company gets from
3D printing because it allows engineers to
quickly zero in on optimal designs.
" When you look at a traditional approach
to building rockets or engines using
traditional systems of casts and molds
43
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Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2024

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