News 3D printing news.

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38290486

At first glance, the shed, in a back garden in Swansea, doesn't look remarkable.
Step closer and you'll hear the whirring of a hard-working machine.
Open the door and, while I'd like to tell you it is Tardis-like inside, it isn't.
Every inch of space is rammed with equipment, and silver insulation lines the walls.
It's Mission HQ of an extraordinary duo who call themselves Team Unlimbited - and they are on a self-funded mission to provide free 3D prosthetic hands and arms for children who are born without.

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...106274/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-c3d58efcc9-64543285

Plans for UK’s first spaceport welcomed by Reaction Engines

Hurrah!

N.

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...111093/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-845036f878-64543285

Airbus successfully tests metal 3D printed controlling component of an A380

 

[Notebook]

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/S...ing_bricks_from_moondust_using_the_Sun_s_heat

3 May 2017
Bricks have been 3D printed out of simulated moondust using concentrated sunlight – proving in principle that future lunar colonists could one day use the same approach to build settlements on the Moon.
“We took simulated lunar material and cooked it in a solar furnace,” explains materials engineer Advenit Makaya, overseeing the project for ESA

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...112349/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-79dcbd4047-64543285

The Vector-R satellite launch vehicle has been successfully sent towards space with an essential 3D printed engine part for the first time. The rocket is made by Arizona-based startup Vector, that was founded by the original SpaceX team to provide affordable and reliable access to space.

 

[RGClark]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...112349/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-79dcbd4047-64543285

With 3D printing coming to the fore, we may have universities making their own suborbital rockets, and thereafter orbital rockets by staging their suborbital ones.

Bob Clark

 

[Notebook]

I'm hoping its going to be a real game-changer, at least for small rockets.
I have got into it, and am building a kit. Cheapest one I could find, so I'm not expecting much. Just learning about the processes and jargon.

N.

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...112732/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-45b574433c-64543285

Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully tests 3D printed AR1 engine in bid to replace current RD-180

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-39870829/scientists-3d-print-transparent-glass

Scientists 3D-print transparent glass
Scientists in Germany have successfully 3D-printed transparent glass.
Dr Bastian Rapp and his team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology spent two and half years developing the method.
They hope to print anything from photographic lenses and fibre optics to glass structures for buildings and rooftops for cars.

 

[Notebook]

Indian teenager Rifath Sharook has designed the “world’s lightest satellite” using a 3D printed carbon fiber reinforced polymer.
The satellite, which weighs just 64 grams, is expected to launch on a sounding rocket from NASA’s Wallops Island facility, Virginia in June. Sharook has named the 4 cm device the ‘Kalam Sat’ in reference to former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...113245/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-57adf48abd-64543285

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...113502/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-a88a475762-64543285

Russian scientists develop country’s first electron beam metal 3D printer

 

[Notebook]

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/S...g_ESA_projects_and_space_firms_to_3D_printing

30 May 2017
ESA is establishing a new ‘one-stop shop’ covering 3D printing for space in partnership with the Manufacturing Technology Centre.
The MTC research organisation, based in Coventry and home to the UK National Centre for Additive Manufacturing, will manage the new ESA Additive Manufacturing Benchmarking Centre (AMBC), which will provide a simple and easy way for ESA projects and hi-tech companies to investigate the potential of 3D printing for their work.

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...114504/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-fa2c19223d-64543285

NASA has announced it is 3D printing radiation shields using the Made in Space 3D printer in order to assess the levels of radiation in space.

 

[RGClark]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-39870829/scientists-3d-print-transparent-glass

Thanks for that. That lenses or mirrors can be 3D printed may make possible large space mirrors. You just send up the raw materials for the glass and then 3D print the mirror or lens in the required shape in space. Since while in space it will be weightless, much less strengthening material would be needed and it could be lighter.

Bob Clark

 

[Notebook]

That's the pro's, usual thing, how much to get the raw material up there?

Its all good news though, the more 3d printing the better, especially extraterrestrial.

N.

 

[Andy44]

That's the pro's, usual thing, how much to get the raw material up there?

Its all good news though, the more 3d printing the better, especially extraterrestrial.

N.

I don't think the con is getting the material up there; that's actually another pro since a mirror that doesn't have to withstand launch accelerations can be made less massive.

The con, I think, is the process itself. Building a large mirror in a factory on the ground requires a large degree of precision and a fair amount of time using traditional methods. Is it possible to achieve the required precision and polishing, etc., with an additive printing process, done remotely with no outside help in zero-G? Maybe with no constant human presence to monitor the process or fix problems?

Certainly once those issues have been engineered out this would be a no-brainer for not just mirrors but all sorts of things that only need to be strong and heavy because they have to ride in a violent launch vehicle.

 

[Notebook]

I'm guessing that in 20 years time, we wouldn't recognise an orbital 3d printer. More robot than printer. (I think Star Trek had a story about a robotic repair station?).

For a mirror or lens, know nothing about them. Would a 3d printed mirror need polishing? Wouldn't that be took care of in the accuracy of printing?

N.

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...114612/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-2e174c4c53-64543285

Australian and Singapore – based space start up, Gilmour Space Technologies has received $3.7 million ($5 million AUD) in Series A investment funding to develop its launch vehicles which use 3D printed rocket fuel.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I'm guessing that in 20 years time, we wouldn't recognise an orbital 3d printer. More robot than printer. (I think Star Trek had a story about a robotic repair station?).

For a mirror or lens, know nothing about them. Would a 3d printed mirror need polishing? Wouldn't that be took care of in the accuracy of printing?

N.

Yep, across the board. The automated repair station was in Enterprise, season 2. And the need to polish the mirror or mirror segments is going to be a major issue.

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...115129/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-fa945c1b77-64543285

The aerospace arm of British multinational GKN has signed an agreement with US research facility Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

 

[Notebook]

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...115659/?goal=0_695d5c73dc-f36c972531-64543285

Disney publishes patent for anti-scanning filament 3D printing method