November 8, 2012

Image Caption: The first test piece produced on the M2 Cusing Machine -- a new Selective Laser Machine recently installed in Building 4707 at the Marshall Center to be used to build parts for the Space Launch System. (Pen is included for scale.) Credit: NASA/MSFC/Andy Hardin

[ Watch video of the SLM machine and see it in action ]

NASA

NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. is using a method called selective laser melting, or SLM, to create intricate metal parts for Americas next heavy-lift rocket. Using this state-of-the-art technique will benefit the agency by saving millions in manufacturing costs.

NASA is building the Space Launch System or SLS a rocket managed at the Marshall Center and designed to take humans, equipment and experiments beyond low Earth orbit to nearby asteroids and eventually to Mars.

SLM is similar to 3-D printing and is the future of manufacturing.

Basically, this machine takes metal powder and uses a high-energy laser to melt it in a designed pattern, says Ken Cooper, advanced manufacturing team lead at the Marshall Center. The laser will layer the melted dust to fuse whatever part we need from the ground up, creating intricate designs. The process produces parts with complex geometries and precise mechanical properties from a three-dimensional computer-aided design.

There are two major benefits to this process, which are major considerations for the Space Launch System Program: savings and safety.

This process significantly reduces the manufacturing time required to produce parts from months to weeks or even days in some cases, said Andy Hardin, the integration hardware lead for the Engines Office in SLS. Its a significant improvement in affordability, saving both time and money. Also, since were not welding parts together, the parts are structurally stronger and more reliable, which creates an overall safer vehicle.

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Futuristic Technology Used To Build NASA's Space Launch System