Agile Space Propulsion is working design and manufacture rocket engines using 3D printing technology.
Agile Space Propulsion has a specific goal: to design and manufacture rocket engines using 3D printing technology. In particular, Daudi Barnes wants to develop thrusters, the small manoeuvring engines used in rockets. According to Barnes, as rockets get cheaper, there is an increasing need for thrusters, and the miniaturisation of electronics is spurring demand for more space vehicles for a variety of purposes.
Ten years ago, 3D printing could be used only with plastics and polymers, but now the rapidly advancing field is using metals. Barnes is taking advantage of that in the design, development and manufacturing of his thrusters, which are smaller engines in a rocket used to position a vehicle in space.
Agile Space Propulsion has developed a 100-pound thruster and is currently working on a five-pound one. Barnes points to the use of 3D printing in much of aerospace, for both small and large engines.
“The end product is more sophisticated, more capable and lighter, and that’s a really big thing,” said Barnes. “I can print in one day something that took months to make. Just the time savings alone is a big cost-saver.”
Barnes said he does not know of any other company using 3D printing to make thrusters, but he suspects some are doing it because the benefits are obvious. Larger companies, he said, are using 3D printing to make the larger booster engines that put a rocket in space.
Already, Barnes said he has developed a prototype thruster for a NASA lunar lander that had spent years in development under conventional manufacturing techniques without making satisfactory progress.
Barnes said when NASA gave him the go-ahead to work on the project, in nine weeks he had a prototype that was performing better than the engine that had been in development for years.
Barnes is also the owner of Advanced Mobile Propulsion Test, which gives him access to that company’s rocket engine testing facility. This allows him to quickly iterate and test his designs.
Currently self-financing the new company, Barnes is looking for $500,000 from investors. He also wants to hire a CEO to replace him so that he can focus on engineering and developing rockets.
“I’m an engineer. It takes a different kind of person to be a CEO.” Barnes said
The company now has five full-time employees and three part-time employees, and works with several contractors.
Once he has completed business development, Barnes will seek an additional $5 million to enhance the company’s ability to produce thrusters.