3D printing — space travel’s next frontier
An Israeli start-up plans to use 3D-printed legs — that is, additive manufacturing — on its spacecraft for its lunar landing, possibly by the end of March
Munich — In what promises to be one small step for space travel, and one giant leap for the next generation of manufacturing, an Israeli start-up is planning to land a vehicle on the moon that has crucial parts made using 3D-printing technology. SpaceIL is among five teams vying for Google’s $30m in prize money to get a spacecraft to the moon by the end of March. One of the start-up’s suppliers, Zurich-based RUAG Space, advised turning to 3D printing to make the legs of its unmanned lunar lander. With financial stakes high and a tight deadline, SpaceIL engineers were at first deeply sceptical, according to RUAG executive Franck Mouriaux. They finally acquiesced after a lot of convincing. "Space is very conservative," Mouriaux said last week at the first conference for the industry, held in Munich, a city that has emerged as a global hub for development of the process also known as additive manufacturing. "We need to convince people that this technology is real." The executive’s pitc...
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