WINNER! Congratulations to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and REM Surface Engineering for winning the prestigious “Aerospace, Space or Defense Application of the Year” award at the 2024 3DPI Awards for their project: PBF-LB/Ti-6Al-4V Crush Lattices for Mars Sample Return Mission.
Dr. Ryan T. Watkins, PhD, Research Scientist for Materials Development and Additive Manufacturing at the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses the challenges and successes of developing 3D-printed lattice structures designed to be as lightweight as possible for interplanetary travel:
“Doing something new is always hard. Doing something new on a NASA flagship mission is even harder. The team did a great job making this 3D-printed crushable lattice a reality—from the development of UnitcellHub, a new open-source software tool for lattice design, to the development of a novel chemical etching process with our partner REM Surface Finishing to enable ultra-low density crushable materials. In many ways, this work is exemplary of our work in the 3D printing industry and NASA as a whole, as it enables the creation of lightweight, high-performance structures in ways that were not previously possible.”
This pioneering NASA JPL project, led by Dr. Watkins and supported by REM, has successfully demonstrated and scaled the production of large, complex lattice components. By utilizing REM’s chemical polishing process, JPL was able to reduce the as-printed mass of these lattices by >80% while maintaining final tolerances of <0.5%.
READ more about this groundbreaking achievement and the future of 3D printing in aerospace.
Dive deep into the project by watching this bonus episode of “The Cool Parts Show”: “3D Printing Crash Lands on Earth in NASA’s Mars Sample Return Mission.”