China3D printingNet, May 19, every year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program awards contracts to small companies across the United States to promote the research and commercialization of innovative aerospace technologies. As the new effort to return humans to the moon approaches, more startups than ever are stepping up support for the agency’s upcoming space exploration and colonization program, which is expected to go into space in the mid-2020s. On May 14, 2021, the space agency announced an investment of 105 million U.S. dollars to provide 140 new phase II awards to 127 small American companies to help them bring innovation to the market.Ten of the selected companies will use the funds to develop and3D printingRelated projects, this is one of the most promising technologies for outer space manufacturing.
The winners of the second phase were awarded the first phase of the SBIR contract in 2020 to demonstrate the advantages of their innovations and show how they can contribute to NASA’s efforts in the fields of human exploration, space technology, science and aviation. Each team will receive up to $750,000 in bonuses to advance its technology to the potential commercialization, and the research team will spend up to two years developing, demonstrating and delivering its proposed project. If they show hope, the program will provide additional funding opportunities to help small businesses find investors and customers outside the space agency.
NASA is in low-Earth orbit, orbiting the moon and its surface, as well as exploring destinations as far away as Mars. Image courtesy of NASA.
Encouraged by the opportunities in the upcoming space economy, in the first phase, all selected technologies have shown huge potential impacts in their respective fields.As we have reported in the past, dozens of startups are turning3D printingTechnology is used as the basis for its SBIR project.For this special round of financing, projects range from laser additive manufacturing (AM) systems for the manufacture of radiation shielding components to large metal structures in space3D printingNew technology. The following is the development of innovation:
1. Real-time error detection in relativistic space
famous3D printingRocket developer Relativity Space has created the world’s largest metal3D printingMachine platform to automate rocket manufacturing, which is called the Stargate Factory. Now, the company will strive to improve the real-time in-situ flaw detection capabilities of its electric welding AM platform in the next 24 months.The space startup proposed to develop its entire set of sensor and camera technology3D printingThe machine performs automatic, real-time defect detection, identification and correction.This might become3D printingIt is a key driver of non-planetary flight and brings a wide range of potential applications to NASA. This includes in-situ manufacturing, on-demand manufacturing of raw materials, and manufacturing objects that cannot be launched from the earth due to payload restrictions, such as habitat components that can be manufactured on the surface of the moon with a printer.
Relativity Space’s facilities include the design, engineering and production of Terran 1 launch vehicle and Stargate printers. The picture is provided by Relativity Space.
2. Satellite of IERUS Tech 3D printingmachine
Looking to develop on-orbit manufacturing technology is Alabama-based engineering company IERUS Technologies. The team conducts specialized large-scale AM processing to automatically manufacture and repair large structures (such as commercial satellites) in the external space environment.By using the additive friction stir deposition (AFS-D) process, engineers hope to repair and3D printingMetal structure provides a new way.According to the start-up company’s suggestion, AFS-D can produce a completely dense near-net shape structure under open atmospheric conditions, which is very suitable for3D printingLarge metal structures in space and large trusses, solar panels and antenna reflectors are made on the earth.
3. Advanced Cooling Tech3D printingLoop heat pipe
Due to the proliferation of commercial satellites, the aerospace industry is responding to the increasing demand for low-cost thermal control systems.This led the thermal management solutions company Advanced Cooling Technologies to create3D printingLoop heat pipe (LHP). This efficient and flexible device is usually used in spacecraft (such as CubeSats and SmallSats), but the manufacturing cost is too high. The startup is based in Pennsylvania and used direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) to develop a low-cost LHP evaporator that eliminates a series of high-skilled, labor-intensive steps that make LHP so expensive. The team plans to find a way to simplify the technology used for higher power, large satellite applications, planetary rover and lander.
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