3D-Printed Rocket Engine Part Passes Key NASA Test

A liquid oxygen/gaseous hydrogen rocket injector assembly built using 3D printing technology is hot-fire tested at NASA Glenn Research Center’s Rocket Combustion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio.

Credit: NASA

A 3D-printed rocket engine injector has passed a major NASA test, potentially heralding a new age of propulsion-system manufacturing, space agency officials say.

NASA and Florida-based company Aerojet Rocketdyne put the injector — which was built using 3D printing (also called "additive manufacturing") technology — through a series of hot-fire trials, agency officials announced last week.

"Hot-fire-testing the injector as part of a rocket engine is a significant accomplishment in maturing additive manufacturing for use in rocket engines," Carol Tolbert, manager of the Manufacturing Innovation Project at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, where the tests were conducted, said in a statement.

"These successful tests let us know that we are ready to move on to demonstrate the feasibility of developing full-size, additively manufactured parts," Tolbert added.

Aerojet Rocketdyne crafted the engine injector using high-powered lasers that liquefied and fused metallic powders into the proper structure.

Rocket engine injectors typically take a year or more to build. Employing 3D printing technology can reduce this to less than four months while also cutting costs by 70 percent, NASA officials said.

3D printing has been used to craft certain rocket parts before, but usually this form of manufacturing is employed to build less critical components of the complex machines, Aerojet Rocketdyne additive manufacturing program manager Jeff Haynes said.

"The injector is the heart of a rocket engine and represents a large portion of the resulting cost of these systems," Haynes said in a statement.

"Today, we have the results of a fully additive manufactured rocket injector with a demonstration in a relevant environment."