New Delhi Space technology startups are using 3D printing technology to get an initial level in manufacturing, before moving on to traditional processes. Officials from Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroute Aerospace and Pixel Space said their current production needs would be met using 3D printers, even though the technology is not comparable to industrial manufacturing using injection molding.
Agnikul Cosmos, a space startup incubated at IIT Madras, unveiled its rocket engine facility in Chennai on July 13. Agnikul Chief Executive Officer Srinath Ravichandran said the company initially plans to completely 3D-print two rocket engines every week, and a total of eight engines per month, which will go into its in-house launch vehicle called Agnibaan. .
Hyderabad-based Skyroute Aerospace will use 3D printers to build rocket engines, said CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana.
Currently, Startup Partners manufactures vendors in Bengaluru and Chennai who use 3D printers, but it plans to start its own factories in the future.
The move towards 3D printing is important in the context of the government’s upcoming space policy.
As Mint reported earlier, the policy will, for the first time, allow private space firms in India to run their own missions, increasing the need for these companies to manufacture their own products.
The alternative, which is sourcing internationally, is costly for Indian space firms, most of which are still early-stage startups.
The model has also been proven abroad. US space firm Rocket Lab created its capstone satellite using 3D printing.
The satellite, which launched on June 28, will survey the lunar surface, a 2024 manned mission, called Artemis, being constructed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is also fully 3D-printed, and has flown into space 26 times since 2017, with an 88% success rate.
Rockets like Agnikul’s Agnibat are meant to be cheap alternatives to rockets like Electron and SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket.
“A rocket engine is a complex machine, and the manufacture of one usually requires hundreds of components. Such complications mean that if any component of the engine has an engineering defect, the entire engine is liable to error. The percentage will increase, and so will the chances of it failing. A 3D-printed rocket engine, however, is a block built based on a design template that uses aerospace grade metals, therefore, in these engines significantly reduces the chance of error,” said Chandana of Skyroot.
Bengaluru-based Dhruv Space and Pixel Space are also using 3D printing to build their satellites. While Dhruv hopes to eventually offer satellite manufacturing as a service to global companies, Pixxel uses 3D printing to manufacture components for its own satellites.
Anupam Shukla, a space lawyer and partner at Pioneer Legal, said, “Our space sector may take another five years to reach the maturity of the US or France, but adding capacity now allows private companies to scale up their operations once they get there. will gain help in. ,
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