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Aeronautics

Hot-Fire Test Includes First Ever 3-D Printed Part

By Marc Boucher
NASA Watch
June 20, 2013
Filed under ,

Hot-Fire Tests Steering the Future of NASA’S Space Launch System Engines, NASA
Engineers developing NASA’s next-generation rocket closed one chapter of testing with the completion of a J-2X engine test series on the A-2 test stand at the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and will begin a new chapter of full motion testing on test stand A-1.
… The March 7 test, which set the short-lived duration record, was remarkable for another reason in that it marked the first time a 3-D printed part was hot-fire tested on a NASA engine system.
The prime contractor for the liquid engine, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., built a maintenance port cover for the 10002 engine using an advanced manufacturing process called Selective Laser Melting. This construction method uses lasers to fuse metal dust into a specific pattern to build the needed part.

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5 responses to “Hot-Fire Test Includes First Ever 3-D Printed Part”

  1. TheBrett says:
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    Pretty cool stuff. I’m always interested in 3D Printing beyond just its uses with plastics.

  2. Jackalope3000 says:
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    Key words here “on a NASA engine system”. Pretty sure Space-X has been doing this for a while already.

    • cb450sc says:
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      Exactly. I’ve seen the SpaceX titanium/stainless printers. I was under the impression this was part of their cost savings measures – use of computerized fabrication. I was really impressed by the automated composite cutter used for making the rocket shell.

      • Rocketscientist42 says:
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        Sorry NASA haters… SpaceX doesn’t use printed parts on their flight hardware. Just on ground tooling and support systems. This really is a big step for the rocket industry.