Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications: Past, Present and Future at the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) started to investigate the potential of Additive Manufacturing (AM) to enhance the performance of spacecraft and launchers more than 12 years ago. At that time, it was uncertain if the technique would ever be used as a manufacturing process for the space industry. However AM was already envisioned as a possible solution for the stringent requirements of low mass, small production series, complex geometries, and others, with the continuous, undoubted need of high reliability.

In the following years, the R&D efforts were continuously raised, as the first promising results were achieved. In 2014, , under ESA leadership, the first Harmonisation cycle dedicated to maturing technological developments was initiated to identify gaps which needed to be overcome to make this technology ready for space use. By mid-2015, the exercise was concluded with the issuing of the first Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing for Space Industry in Europe. Technological activities were defined along with the “end-to-end process”, addressing aspects from “design” to “qualification”. Considering the dynamisms of the AM technologies, a second AM road-mapping cycle has been conducted in 2017 to keep pace with the technology developments.

For several years it has been clear that Additive Manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize space products and space missions. Today, the technology is maturing toward its implementation in ESA missions for a broad variety of applications such as propulsion, Radio Frequency (RF) equipment, optical instruments, each requiring different materials, with dimensions ranging from a few micrometres to meters.

The present work details selected R&D projects, highlighting the importance of a closely controlled “end–to-end manufacturing process” and introduces upcoming research and technological activities which aim at making Additive Manufacturing a widely used process for space applications.