Long outpaced by public hype, 3-D printers are finally coming into their own – in the rocket-building industry.
Rocket parts made by Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. using a 3-D printer are set to be used in outer space for the first time with the inaugural launch of NASA’s Orion spacecraft next year. Their use culminates more than a decade of investment, research, and development of 3-D printing technology by the El Segundo aerospace company.
The advent of 3-D printing has helped speed small-lot manufacturing and bring down production costs, while also helping to increase the complexity of rocket engine designs, said Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet’s vice president of space programs.
“We can print parts in a matter of hours or days that would have previously taken months or even longer,” she said. “It depends on the part or system you are building, but for the highest cost benefit, we have seen roughly 70 percent cost savings.”
Aerojet had $202 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization last year on net sales of $1.76 billion, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company spent $556 million on research and development in 2016, though it does not report project details.
Other established companies, including Hawthorne’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, have also invested in the technology. Meanwhile, startups such as Relativity Space, which has a significant operational presence in Inglewood, and Tri-D Dynamics of Cerritos, are making it their specialty.
Tri-D co-founder Deepak Atyam said, “3-D printing has allowed a number of industries, including aerospace, to grow rapidly with much lower financial risk than could be done before. That’s what really allowed a new revolution in the rocket industry. Rocket engines aren’t cheap and are extremely complex. It’s allowed new players to enter the game.”
While the aerospace industry’s short production runs and complex parts make it expensive to manufacture components using traditional cutting mills and lathes, that’s not the case with 3-D printers, said Scott Sevcik, head of aerospace, defense, and automotive for 3-D printer manufacturer Stratasys of Eden Prairie, Minn.
“When you go directly to printing a part (from a design) without any interim steps, you have a tremendous benefit when you are producing low volume,” he said. “You can produce small quantities without being burdened by tooling cost amortized over a small lot.”
