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NASA developers have printed a rocket pump turbine. This technology has long been used in prototyping, and thanks to this, additive production has appeared in recent years. 3D printing today allows you to create even the most complex metal parts. The question remains only in their strength and durability.
3D printing technology has almost halved the number of parts of a rocket pump, and accordingly significantly reduced the time to assemble all parts and create a pump. At NASA, the turbine was printed by laser sintering of metal powders. Each part is created by layering, excess powder is blown away (selective laser sintering). After printing each part, they are assembled, tempered and polished. The developers conducted 15 tests of the printed turbine, during which it reached its maximum power.
During the test, the pump turbines rotate more than 90,000 rpm, which is 9.5 times more than the Formula One (for racing cars).
Given the immediate prospects for the study of Mars and the Moon, for NASA this way of creating the details of rocket devices is of great importance. 3D printing can reduce the cost of creating even the most complex structures, simplify the design process of rockets and opens up great prospects for space exploration. Thanks to this, spaceships will not have to carry tons of spare parts - they can simply be printed as needed. Of course, loading powder onto the ship and sending it into space will still cost a lot of money, but in case of an accident printing on board would be much more profitable than carrying parts from the Earth each time. Just imagine, if delivery to orbit will be cheaper in the future, how much can be printed right on the spot! Let me remind you that the FDM printer has already been tested on the ISS.
