NASA Marshall robot will build biggest composite rocket parts
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – A giant robot at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is helping the agency build the largest lightweight composite parts ever produced for space vehicles. The robot’s work at the Alabama facility may prove pivotal in NASA’s new Space Launch System, designed to be the most powerful rocket ever built, capable to taking…
Marshall engineers 3-D print copper rocket part in NASA milestone
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – NASA engineers at Alabama’s Marshall Space Flight Center have produced the first full-scale, copper rocket part using additive manufacturing – a milestone for aerospace 3-D printing. The part is a combustion chamber liner that must operate at extreme conditions during flight. In fact, temperatures on the inside of the paper-thin copper liner…
Five trends lifting Alabama’s aerospace industry into new era
Alabama’s aerospace industry has already flown to the moon with the Saturn V rocket. Now, it’s ready for a new set of missions that will keep this critical sector of Alabama’s economy soaring in revolutionary ways. With aviation and aerospace officials from around the globe gathering at next week’s Paris Air Show, it’s time to…
United Launch Alliance Alabama factory turns rocket science into rockets (update)
DECATUR, Alabama – Inside the United Launch Alliance Alabama factory, rocket science powers to life as workers assemble the giant Atlas and Delta launch vehicles that thrust critical satellites aloft and blast probes into deep space. The sprawling, one-of-a-kind plant tucked away on an industrial road in this Morgan County city plays an important role…
Alabama firm building test stands for largest NASA rocket
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – NASA’s next-generation rocket will one day make an epic journey to Mars, but first it will have to pass trials at giant test stands now under construction in Alabama. Birmingham-based Brasfield & Gorrie has been awarded a $45.3 million contract to build two test stands that will ensure the Space Launch System (SLS)…
NASA Marshall engineers complete tests on 3-D printer for space station
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center last month completed tests on a 3-D printer that showed the innovative device is ready to be launched to the International Space Station later this year. NASA says 3-D printing, also called additive manufacturing, carried out in space could revolutionize space travel, allowing astronauts to make…