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Jeff Bezos presents new Blue Moon lunar lander with “almost entirely 3D printed” BE-7 engine Aerospace

by Aerospace

Amazon provides a great service to many and at the same time is heavily criticized by many others. The same can be said of (part of) humanity’s dream of colonizing the Solar System. The greatest of all undertakings but also apparently useless when there are so many problems to solve right here inside our Planet’s atmosphere. Still, this author believes that humanity has the ability to both solve its problems and reach beyond them at the same time. While Bezos’s plans for space colonization are still somewhat vague, he (like Musk and many other visionary entrepreneurs targeting space) should certainly be praised for it. Even more so since Bezos’ Blue Origin is a heavy user of additive manufacturing, as demonstrated by the latest “almost entirely 3D printed” BE-7 engine, soon to be live-tested for the upcoming Blue Moon lunar lander that the company is working on.

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3D printed SuperDraco engines not to blame in Space X Dragon accident Aerospace

by Aerospace

Space X is in the process of testing the crewed version of its Dragon space capsule that will be capable of ferrying humans to and from the International Space Station. The date for the first test with humans on board(initially scheduled for July) however, will need to be moved up, as the capsule suffered a failure during the activation of its engine abort SuperDraco thrusters and – Space X just confirmed – was destroyed.

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Orbital Micro Systems launches CubeSat with first 3D printed space antenna Aerospace

by Aerospace

Orbital Micro Systems (OMS), a Colorado-based space tech company specializing in advanced instrumentation for small satellite missions and earth data intelligence platforms, launched its first Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) constellation satellite yesterday. The satellite, dubbed the IOD-1 GEMS, was launched from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia aboard the International Space Station resupply mission NG011.

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How Carbon’s 3D printing helped NASA and TTH iterate Seeker inspection robot Aerospace

by Aerospace

Yesterday, Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft was launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, carrying supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station. Among the technologies aboard the spacecraft is Seeker, a new robotic free flier inspector. Seeker was produced through a collaboration between NASA and The Technology House (TTH), which leveraged Carbon’s 3D printing platform for the production of four high-performance thrusters for the Seeker’s cold-gas propulsion system.