Spaceflight Instrumentation Enabled by Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is additively manufacturing space instruments to meet specific science objectives. One example is an electron collimator, built using additive manufacturing technology, that will fly on the European Space Agency’s JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission set to launch in 2022. The collimator is the first-ever additively manufactured mechanical component to be both fabricated and qualified for spaceflight at APL. By using metal additive techniques, the APL team achieved complex geometries that could not have been obtained with conventional manufacturing. The intricate collimators, each about the size of a quarter and peppered with hundreds of tiny holes, are assembled in a spherically focused arrangement. They confine particle trajectories within the face of the detectors in the instrument. Extensive collaboration between APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department and Space Exploration Sector led to the successful development and qualification of the flight collimator in just 2 years. The innovative capabilities of additive manufacturing will become an integral part of future space missions.