JPG PDF PNG ? zip

PES MEDIA

  • Articles
    • News
    • Features
    • Products
  • PES TV
  • Magazine
    • Digital Editions
    • Subcontractor Sourcing Guide
    • Latest Newsletter
    • Editorial Programme
    • Search Engine Directory
  • Literature
  • Events
  • Associations
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising
    • Editorial Programme 2019
    • Digital/eMarketing
    • Media Pack 2019
    • Media Pack 2020
    • Subcon Media Pack
  • Contact Us

Rocket with 3D printed engine unveiled at new space facility in Scotland

8 February 2019 • In News
Rocket with 3D printed engine unveiled at new space facility in Scotland

Orbex has unveiled its Prime rocket for the first time at the opening of its new headquarters and rocket design facility in Forres, Scottish Highlands. The rocket is said to have the world’s largest 3D printed rocket engine.

Designed to deliver small satellites into Earth’s orbit, the rocket was unveiled at an opening ceremony attended by members of the UK and European space community as well as local community stakeholders.

The completed engineering prototype of the Stage 2 rocket (the stage that will transit into orbital flight after launch) is made from a specially-formulated lightweight carbon fibre and aluminium composite and includes the 3D printed rocket engine.

Orbex Prime is a completely re-thought and re-engineered two-stage rocket, designed by Orbex aerospace engineers with professional experience from organisations including NASA, ESA and Ariane, as well as other commercial spaceflight companies. Thanks to its novel architecture, Prime launchers are up to 30% lighter and 20% more efficient than any other vehicle in the small launcher category, packing more power per cubic litre than many heavy launchers.

Seen for the first time, the 3D printed rocket engine was manufactured in a single piece without joins, in partnership with additive manufacturer SLM Solutions. Given the extreme temperature and pressure fluctuations involved in space flight, this gives the engine an advantage over other rocket engines, which can suffer from weaknesses associated with joining and welding. It is also the first commercial rocket engine designed to work with bio-propane, a clean-burning, renewable fuel source that cuts carbon emissions by 90% compared to fossil hydrocarbon fuels, supplied by Orbex’s new exclusive BioLPG fuel partner Calor.

Orbex first came into the public eye in July of 2018, when the UK Space Agency announced that Orbex had been chosen to launch from the proposed spaceport in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands, as part of the main consortium. At that time, the company announced that it had already won £30 million ($40 million) in private and public backing for the project, making it one of Europe’s best-funded private launch companies.

The company revealed the identities of more customers that would be among the first to launch their satellites from the Sutherland spaceport. On Orbex Prime’s maiden flight from Scotland in 2021, the rocket will carry an experimental payload from UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), the leading manufacturer of small satellites. This launch will represent an important first for the UK commercial space industry, demonstrating the UK’s end-to-end launch capability with a UK rocket launching a UK satellite from a UK spaceport.

Orbex
www.orbex.space

Michael Tyrrell

Author

Michael Tyrrell
Digital Coordinator

Tags

Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) Space Industry

Share This Article

Tweet

Share

Share

Share

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter

Further Articles

2020 must be the year of automation for UK manufacturing – Fanuc

14 hours ago Michael Tyrrell
news

Aston Martin opens new manufacturing facility in Wales

14 hours ago Michael Tyrrell
news

A new model of on-demand manufacturing expertise

15 hours ago Michael Tyrrell
news

Most recent Articles

2020 must be the year of automation for UK manufacturing – Fanuc

14 hours ago Michael Tyrrell
news

Aston Martin opens new manufacturing facility in Wales

14 hours ago Michael Tyrrell
news

A new model of on-demand manufacturing expertise

15 hours ago Michael Tyrrell
news

Share This Article

Tweet

Share

Share

Share

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter

November 2019

Subscribe to our FREE Media Network

INFORMATION

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy
    • Cookie Policy

CATEGORIES

  • Features (2,379)
  • Literature (158)
  • News (4,504)
  • Products (1,334)
  • Video (392)

TAGS

  • inserts
  • JCB
  • Airbus
  • Laser & Waterjet Profiling
  • punching machines

OUR OTHER MAGAZINES

Aerospace Manufacturing Logo Composites in Manufacturing Logo

CONTACT INFORMATION

  • PES Magazine
  • MIT Publishing
  • Featherstone House
  • 375 High Street
  • Rochester
  • Kent
  • ME1 1DA
01634 830566

Back To Top

1998 - 2019 © MIT Publishing
Site designed & developed by TJC