NASA Engineer Set to Complete First 3-D Printed Space Cameras
Hello
reader!
It
follows an article published in the day (08/07), in the website www.spacedaily.com, pointing out that NASA Engineer set to complete
First 3-D Printed Space Cameras.
Duda Falcão
TECH SPACE
NASA
Engineer Set to Complete
First 3-D Printed Space Cameras
By Staff Writers
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07,
2014
This is an exploded view of the
CubeSat-class
50-millimeter (2-inch) imaging
instrument that technologist Jason Budinoff
is
manufacturing with 3-D-printed parts.
It shows the mirrors and integrated
optical-mechanical structures. Image courtesy
NASA Goddard/Jason Budinoff. For
a larger
version of this image please go here.
|
By the
end of September, NASA aerospace engineer Jason Budinoff is expected to
complete the first imaging telescopes ever assembled almost exclusively from
3-D-manufactured components. "As far as I know, we are the first to
attempt to build an entire instrument with 3-D printing," said Budinoff,
who works at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Under
his multi-pronged project, funded by Goddard's Internal Research and
Development (IRAD) program, Budinoff is building a fully functional,
50-millimeter (2-inch) camera whose outer tube, baffles and optical mounts are
all printed as a single structure.
The
instrument is appropriately sized for a CubeSat, a tiny satellite comprised of
individual units each about four inches on a side. The instrument will be
equipped with conventionally fabricated mirrors and glass lenses and will
undergo vibration and thermal-vacuum testing next year.
Budinoff
also is assembling a 350-millimeter (14-inch) dual-channel telescope whose size
is more representative of a typical space telescope.
Pathfinder
Project
Budinoff
is developing both to show that telescope and instrument structures can benefit
from advances in 3-D, or additive, manufacturing. With this technique, a
computer-controlled laser melts and fuses metal powder in precise locations as
indicated by a 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) model. Because components are
built layer by layer, it is possible to design internal features and passages
that could not be cast or machined using more traditional manufacturing
approaches.
The goal
isn't to fly them, at least not yet. "This is a pathfinder," Budinoff
said.
"When
we build telescopes for science instruments, it usually involves hundreds of
pieces. These components are complex and very expensive to build. But with 3-D
printing, we can reduce the overall number of parts and make them with nearly
arbitrary geometries. We're not limited by traditional mill- and
lathe-fabrication operations."
In
particular, the 2-inch instrument design involves the fabrication of four
different pieces made from powdered aluminum and titanium.
A
comparable, traditionally manufactured camera would require between five and 10
times the number of parts, he said. Furthermore, the instrument's baffling -
the component that helps reduce stray light in telescopes - is angled in a
pattern that instrument builders cannot create with traditional manufacturing
approaches in a single piece.
When he
completes the camera's assembly at the end of the fiscal year - ready for
space-qualification testing - the project will have taken a mere three months
to complete for a fraction of the cost. "I basically want to show that
additive-machined instruments can fly," he said.
"We
will have mitigated the risk, and when future program managers ask, 'Can we use
this technology?' we can say, 'Yes, we already have qualified it.'"
Other
Objectives
Budinoff
also wants to demonstrate that he can use powdered aluminum to produce
3-D-manufactured telescope mirrors - a challenge given how porous aluminum is,
which makes it difficult to polish the surfaces.
Under
his plan, a 3-D-manufacturing vendor will fabricate an unpolished mirror blank
appropriate for his two-inch instrument. He then will place the optic inside a
pressure chamber filled with inert gas. As the gas pressure increases to 15,000
psi, the heated chamber in essence will squeeze the mirror to reduce the
surface porosity - a process called hot isostatic pressing.
"We
think this, combined with the deposition of a thin layer of aluminum on the
surface and Goddard-developed aluminum stabilizing heat treatments, will enable
3-D-printed metal mirrors," Budinoff said.
Should
he prove the approach, Budinoff said NASA scientists would benefit enormously -
particularly those interested in building infrared-sensing instruments, which
typically operate at super-cold temperatures to gather the infrared light that
can be easily overwhelmed by instrument-generated heat.
Often,
these instruments are made of different materials. However, if all the
instrument's components, including the mirrors, were made of aluminum, then
many of the separate parts could be 3-D printed as single structures, reducing
the parts count and material mismatch. This would decrease the number of
interfaces and increase the instrument's stability, Budinoff added.
Next
year, he also plans to experiment with printing instrument components made of
Invar alloy, a material being prepared for 3-D printing by Goddard technologist
Tim Stephenson. The 100-year-old iron-nickel alloy offers extreme dimensional
stability over a range of temperatures. The material is ideal for building
super-stable, lightweight skeletons that support telescopes and other
instruments.
"Anyone
who builds optical instruments will benefit from what we're learning
here," Budinoff said. "I think we can demonstrate an
order-of-magnitude reduction in cost and time with 3-D printing."
Fonte: Site http://www.spacedaily.com
Comentário: Pois é leitor, trago essa notícia para demonstrar
como a tecnologia de impressão em 3D vem sendo utilizada em projetos espaciais,
especialmente em relação a equipamentos que podem ser utilizados em
nanossatélites. Essa notícia pode ser do interesse dos grupos brasileiros que atuam
nessa área, especialmente o grupo liderado pelos Drs. Nelson Schuch e Otávio
Durão, já que das entrevistas realizadas recentemente com os coordenadores
desses grupos, foi na entrevista com o Dr. Otávio Durão onde identificamos um
maior interesse pelo uso da tecnologia de cubesats num universo muito mais
amplo de missões espaciais, ai incluídas missões de espaço profundo, e onde certamente
a utilização da tecnologia de impressão 3D poderia ser bastante útil.
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