![]() The four VIPER wheels that will churn through moon dust when the rover launches in 2024 require multiple manufacturing processes and assembly steps. Made of a nickel-based alloy, the prototype wheel is approximately eight inches wide and 20 inches in diameter, which ORNL says is much larger than typical parts 3D printed with metal powder bed systems, and that additive enabled greater complexity in the rim design without added cost or manufacturing difficulty. ![]() It was great to connect a capability with a developing need, and the team was excited to be making a prototype component with space exploration applications.” ICON awarded $57.2 million NASA contract to develop lunar 3D printing construction systemīrian Gibson, the researcher who led the rover wheel project for ORNL said: “The project with NASA really propelled the technology forward. Incus reports success following ESA-supported project exploring 3D printing in lunar environment Nano3Dprint announces partnership with Finite Space for 3D printed lunar rover “We believe the future of manufacturing is additive" - Siemens teams with Oak Ridge National Laboratory They used software developed in house to slice the wheel into vertical layers, then balance the workload between the two lasers to print evenly. Oak Ridge says that although the machine is unique, a key to the success of the project was researchers’ expertise in process automation and machine control. I really think this is going to be the future of laser powder bed printing, especially at large scale and in mass production.” “We’re only scratching the surface of what the system can do. ![]() “This dramatically increases the production rate with the same amount of laser power,” said Peter Wang, who leads MDF development of new laser powder bed fusion systems at Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge says that the 3D printer used for the rover wheel prototype is large enough for a person to enter, and is unique in its ability to print large objects while the steps occur simultaneously and continuously. A specialised 3D printer used two coordinated lasers and a rotating build plate to selectively melt metal powder into the designed shape. MDF researchers 3D printed the rover wheel prototype at ORNL in late 2022. NASA mechanical design engineer Richard Hagen, left, and ORNL researcher Michael Borish inspect a lunar rover wheel prototype that was 3D printed at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. While the prototype wheel that was 3D printed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at ORNL will not be used on the NASA Moon mission, it was created to demonstrate the same design specifications as the wheels made for NASA’s VIPER. The NASA mission is intended to help determine the origin and distribution of the moon’s water and whether enough could be harvested from the moon’s surface to support people living there. The 3D printed wheel was modelled on the existing, light-weight wheels of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, a mobile robot NASA plans to send to space in 2024 to map ice and other potential resources at the south pole of the moon. Oak Ridge says the project demonstrated the potential of additive manufacturing for creating highly specialised parts needed for space exploration. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in collaboration with NASA, have used 3D printing to develop the same kind of wheel as the design used by the space administration for its robotic lunar rover.
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