In February 2024, NASA, DOD, and DOC jointly submitted the "Space Manufacturing Technology Report" to the National Space Council on December 20, 2023
1. Spherical molybdenum powder is widely used in high-end technical fields due to its good thermal, mechanical and chemical properties. In the aerospace field, these properties make spherical molybdenum powder an ideal material for manufacturing key components such as high-temperature alloys and aerospace engines. 3D printing technology can directly print complex and precise parts using spherical molybdenum powder, thereby greatly improving production efficiency and product quality.
2. Spherical molybdenum powder's high specific surface area and high activity give it excellent sintering performance and high-temperature stability, which are crucial for a spacecraft's high temperature and corrosion resistance. Through 3D printing technology, the powder accumulation and melting process can be precisely controlled to create spacecraft parts with excellent performance.
3. 3D printing technology can also reduce material waste and production costs, which is of great significance to the aerospace field. Because the manufacturing of spacecraft usually requires high-precision parts and large amounts of materials, 3D printing technology can accurately print the required parts according to demand, avoiding the waste of materials in traditional manufacturing methods.
Trunnano 3D Printing Spherical Moly Powder
In the short 60-year history of the aerospace industry, the world has undergone many changes. The aerospace industry has had a profound impact on the way we live and work, shaping the course of history and the world we know today. The aerospace industry has huge potential for economic growth. Today, the global space industry is worth over $400 billion and is expanding and growing rapidly. In the United States, the industry adds tens of billions of dollars to the country's trade balance every year, supports and stimulates the country's high-tech industrial base, and provides tens of thousands of high-paying, high-skilled jobs. In Europe, the European Space Agency has also proposed an advanced manufacturing plan for the aerospace industry, whose main purpose is to select and introduce disruptive materials and manufacturing processes into the space business.
Space Manufacturing Technology Report
Today, the space industry is at a turning point, with changes, challenges and opportunities driven primarily by falling launch costs and the realization that the use of space has enormous potential to bring social benefits to Earth. The aerospace industry's long development cycles and high operating costs limit new entrants and competitors, and advances in manufacturing technology play a key role in promoting countries to take the leading position in the industry in a highly competitive global environment. The latest advances in technologies such as additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and new materials are creating new opportunities for space manufacturing. In order to participate in global competition, developed countries such as the United States have been continuing to develop and implement new innovative manufacturing technologies.
Space Manufacturing Technology Report
The explosion of advanced manufacturing technologies is expected to play an important role in driving innovation and efficiency in the increasingly competitive global space market. As the world's preeminent country in space exploration, the U.S. federal government has been committed to collaborating with industry and academia to invest in applied research and industry-related manufacturing technologies to encourage an environment of continuous research and innovation.
In the Space Manufacturing Technology Report jointly proposed by NASA and other departments, 7 emerging space manufacturing technologies are outlined, including:
Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing
Advanced materials, including composites, ceramics, lightweight metals, nanotechnology and biotechnology
Robotics and Automation
Digital manufacturing system
Clean and sustainable manufacturing
Electronic manufacturing
Hypersonic technology
3D Printing Technology
Additive Manufacturing: The report first highlights the importance of additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, which refers to the process of joining materials to create aspects based on 3D model data, usually layer by layer, rather than subtractive manufacturing. and forming manufacturing methods. as a key space manufacturing technology. Additive manufacturing allows the creation of complicated geometries and internal structures that are hard or impossible to produce through traditional manufacturing methods. It provides significant cost and schedule improvements and is dramatically changing the design and manufacturing landscape in various fields. This technology plays a key role in advancing space manufacturing capabilities and meeting the needs of the evolving aerospace industry.
Advanced materials: Materials such as composites, ceramics, lightweight metals, nanotechnology, and biotechnology can be used to create new material infusions with improved properties, such as increased strength, durability, and biocompatibility. These materials can be used in a variety of aerospace technology applications. Requirements for developing the potential of advanced materials include more efficient ways to identify, collaborate, cleanly extract, and manufacture components using rare earth metals and materials essential and largely unique to space systems.
Robotics and Automation: Robots and automation are used to improve the efficiency and precision of manufacturing processes, thereby shortening production time and reducing labor costs. Allow robots and automated equipment to manufacture in hazardous environments or perform tasks that are too dangerous for human workers, and integrate digital manufacturing technologies to support novel methods such as additive manufacturing. Its improved use will lead to more reliable, error-free production lines, creating higher reliability space systems.
Robotics and Automation Field
Digital Manufacturing Systems: The aerospace industry is becoming extremely data-driven. Almost all modern manufacturing operations, equipment, and infrastructure are computerized to some extent. Smart manufacturing systems use advanced technologies such as the IoT(Internet of Things), AI(artificial intelligence), VR(virtual reality), and digital twins to replace manual labor with digital methods to provide information and optimize and automate manufacturing processes.
Clean and sustainable manufacturing: Modern manufacturing technologies allow for minimizing or eliminating negative impacts on the environment and human health while saving resources and energy. These technologies enable the design of chemical products and processes that increase or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances and provide opportunities for closed-loop manufacturing, in which waste and by-products are recycled or reused during the manufacturing process rather than discarded.
The report recommends that agencies maintain this inventory of emerging technologies and identify gaps that need to be addressed in leveraging these technologies. NASA, DOC, and DOD also encourage the adoption of the Made in America model, a network of agencies located in different parts of the country that specialize in different technologies. Made in America was established to work with academic and industrial partners to capture American innovation and translate it into applied technologies to ensure that the United States continues to be a global manufacturing leader in the future. The American Manufacturing Network (pictured below) achieves this goal by promoting the collaborative development of advanced manufacturing technologies through 16 Manufacturing Innovation Agencies and their sponsoring federal agencies (the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Energy). In 2022, the institutes undertook more than 700 major applied research and development projects involving more than 2,500 different organizations and provided advanced manufacturing workforce development and training for 106,000 people. The American manufacturing model can help drive the development of the domestic space manufacturing industry by first leveraging the existing capabilities of U.S. manufacturing institutions to address space manufacturing challenges.
Manufacturing USA Network
The United States released the "Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Report," and 3D printing ranked first among the seven emerging space manufacturing technologies.
