UC San Diego Students Launch 3D Printed Rocket

On May 23, a group of University of California San Diego students launched a rocket in the Mojave Desert with a fully 3D-printed engine. The rocket, named the Vulcan-1, was about 5.7 metres long and 20 cm in diameter. Despite contending with 30 mile-per-hour winds, the rocket managed to fly a ground distance of about 1220 m, and reach an altitude of 3,000 m. The team was not the absolute first to do this: one of their Kickstarter backers, Bagaveev Corporation, managed to launch a 3D-printed rocket several years ago.

SpaceX and NASA have also been pursuing 3D-printed rocket components for several reasons. 3D printing allows for new component geometries which are impossible to create with traditional machining and welding. Using 3D printing during testing can reduce development time and cost. Consider SpaceX’s 3D-printed SuperDraco Engine Chamber: it took just about three months to develop from an initial design to a functional prototype capable of being used in thrust tests. The improved components and quicker development could both help reduce the final cost of rockets. In fact, 3D-printing is considered one of the key technologies that will eventually allow US rocket manufacturers to undercut the Russians on cost, so that the Americans will once again have an independent heavy-lifting rocket industry.

There is still much work to be done until rocketry reaches that point. SpaceX and NASA have yet to attempt making entirely 3D-printed engines. Meanwhile in the Mojave Desert, the Vulcan-1 was destroyed on its maiden flight because its parachute failed to deploy. Governments, corporations, and students alike are grinding through tests and sweating through calculations, trying to create our 3D-printed future in the stars.