‘Developing new alloys with additive manufacturing has been the biggest piece of Ursa Major’s process’ – Joe Laurienti

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Ursa Major

Ripley engine on test stand at Ursa Major HQ.

The development of new alloys to additive manufacture its rocket engines has been the single most exciting and biggest boon to Ursa Major’s process, according to CEO Joe Laurienti.

Laurienti provided this insight on the latest Additive Insight podcast episode, in which he joined TCT Group Content Manager Sam Davies to discuss the application of 3D printing technology in Ursa Major’s rocket engines.

Ursa Major describes itself as the leading rocket propulsion provider in the United States and is attracting interest from the US Department of Defense. The company has introduced a portfolio of four rocket engines, which have been designed to support commercial space enterprises, defence contractors, and the Department of Defense for launch, hypersonics, and national security missions.

Through those endeavours, Ursa Major has been working with 3D printing technology from the get-go, identifying its capacity to enable quick iterations and complex geometries. It also saw the potential for new alloy development, and has since developed high strength alloys that are ‘well-suited for hydrogen embrittlement for liquid hydrogen rocket engines’, as well as high strength, low cost steels for defence systems.

“That's been a really exciting process for us,” Laurienti said. “And that team is not massive. We have two or three materials experts that will tweak these alloys, tweak the 3D printing parameters, go through just a massive suite of inspections, everything from tensile to thermal tensile to environmental testing in an oxygen rich environment, for instance.

“And more importantly, I think, is the team that we have that is focused on the  3D printing and alloy cycling, where we can very quickly field new samples or parts or geometries with these alloys. We have a small 3D printing facility. I always call it a Centre of Excellence because that's really what it is. It's three employees, three engineers, with three 3D printers that can move very quickly when we're developing a new part or alloy. And I think that's probably the most important piece of the process.”

To date, Ursa Major has manufactured up to 140 of its Hadley engines – this the first of its four engine products to go into production (Draper & Ripley are in development, while the Arroway is still in design). But as its continues to progress the status of each engine project, the application of 3D printing technology evolves.

In the early stages of its work in 3D printing, Laurienti says, the focus was on experimentation and parameter optimisation, whereas in the last couple of years that has transitioned into quality assurance before the company begins to explore larger platforms.

“Printing a new alloy isn’t applicable or helpful if maybe you pull one set of tensile samples and the next build plate is completely different,” Laurienti explained. “So, that quality piece was our most recent large investment. The next phase, what we’re really excited about, is two fold. One piece is new print capabilities geometrically, so larger beds, larger platforms, getting not just an experimental platform but a flight capable or qualified system online is going to be really key – showing consistency across large build platforms. And then, after that, it’s print at scale, driving down costs, driving up throughout.”