Aerojet Rocketdyne has been awarded a contract to develop large-scale liquid rocket engine applications for space launch services of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The company and its partners will work to design and build the liquid rocket engines by using laser melting machines to convert the engines from traditional manufacturing to three-dimensional printing, Aerojet Rocketdyne said Monday.
Steve Bouley, vice president of space launch systems at Aerojet Rocketdyne, said the company will build the additive-manufactured engines “to boost and place important payloads into orbit.â€
“These next generation systems are about six times larger, enabling more options for our rocket engine components, †added Bouley.
Aerojet Rocketdyne will use the additive manufacturing machines to perform large-scale testing on nickel, copper and aluminum alloys as components of ducts and heat exchangers.
“Additive manufacturing shifts these advances into high gear and ultimately transforms how these engines are produced, †said Jeff Haynes, program manager of additive manufacturing at Aerojet Rocketdyne.
