German metal AM technology company TRUMPF and European space travel startup The Exploration Company use 3D printing to produce core components for spacecraft used in Earth orbit and missions to the moon We have partnered to do so. As early as spring 2024, the exploration company plans to use the laser specialist's 3D printers to print the core components of the engines for the Huracan and Mistral engines of the Nyx Earth and Nyx Lunar spacecraft in Planek, near Munich. The partnership aims to make the Huracan engine reusable and capable of refueling with biomethane and oxygen in orbit.
“Our goal is to deliver space missions more cost-effectively than ever before. Our spacecraft will benefit from TRUMPF’s manufacturing and application expertise. We have decades of experience in component manufacturing,” said Hélène Huby, CEO of The Exploration Company. The startup plans to send a space capsule into Earth's orbit for several months on its first mission in 2026. Further missions to the moon are planned from 2028. The spacecraft will initially carry cargo, but it is hoped that in the long term it will also carry people.
“We are driving the commercialization of the space tourism industry with 3D printing technology. If you want to succeed in today's space tourism industry, you have to use additive manufacturing,” says Head of Additive Manufacturing Business at TRUMPF. said one Tobias Bruun. Designers use additive manufacturing to combine entire assemblies into a single component. This reduces weight, reduces complexity, reduces the cost of pre-launch safety testing, and increases the likelihood of a successful space mission.
Additive manufacturing allows the aerospace industry to quickly develop prototypes that typically take a lot of time. Design software allows users to refine prototypes with the click of a mouse and create them on a 3D printer within hours. With traditional manufacturing methods, manufacturing some of these complex shapes is impossible or takes up to weeks or months.
