For non-experts in the field, talking about space often comes down to dreaming of the day when space travel will be as easy and accessible as a trip from Brussels to Berlin. The truth is, due to its vastness – and the variety of space technologies that are being explored every day, space remains unfamiliar to many people. However, one thing is certain, maintaining and widening our gateway to space requires extreme speed to reach orbit and precisely controlled thrust firing – all of which can be obtained with the right propulsion technology.
Here is the thing, there are a wide range of propulsion systems – each of them serving different applications and purposes. When we look at satellites for instance, we came to realize that their builders are often left with limited choices: expensive (a “usual” satellite costs about 300 million dollars!!), toxic chemical propulsion or slow, power-hungry electric systems. Given the growing adoption of Additive Manufacturing across the space industry, one question we can legitimate ask ourselves is: can Additive Manufacturing do something about that?
The next Additive Talks session ambitions to explore and discuss this topic. Entitled “How to navigate the challenges of low-cost propulsion systems enabled by AM?”, the session will be held on Thursday 20th April, from 03.30 pm to 04.30 pm CET.