It is rocket science! World’s first 3D spacecraft set for take-off

Fuelled by beer and the enthusiasm of amateurs, a British team on Friday said it was preparing to launch the world’s first ever 3D printed rocket. Showing off the human-sized rocket in a central London office, Lester Haines, head of the “Special Projects Bureau” at technology magazine The Register, described the technical challenges and “big future” of 3D printing in aeronautics. This autumn, the team will fly to Spaceport America - the home of Virgin Galactic - in New Mexico to launch the Vulture 2 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into space.

NASA are already 3D-printing metal rocket parts, so it’s obviously got a big future.

Lester Haines, head of the “Special Projects Bureau” at technology magazine The Register

The project - sponsored by German data analytics firm Exasol - was suggested by readers of The Register and goes by the grand title “Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator”, or LOHAN for short. It took 30 committed team-members, including doctorate aeronautical engineers, four years to build the rocket. A huge helium balloon will lift the rocket 20,000 metres into the stratosphere, at which point the onboard GPS will ignite the engine, catapulting it to speeds of around 1,610 kilometres per hour. The three-kilogramme rocket, which cost almost $10,000 to print, will then use an onboard autopilot to guide it back to Earth, all captured by an onboard video camera.

Science 3d rocket