Boeing’s space taxi Starliner gets 600 parts made with 3D printer
The space taxi Starliner, a manned space project from aircraft manufacturer Boeing, will receive about 600 parts made with a 3D printer. These parts result in significant weight savings.
To make the plastic parts, Boeing hired a small company that specializes in making advanced biomedical and industrial materials. It concerns the American company Oxford Performance Materials, Reuters reports. Boeing declined to say what proportion the 600 Ofxford parts make up of the total number of parts of the Starliner capsule.
In an interview, Larry Varholak, the chief of Oxford’s aviation division, said the parts made with 3D printers help save weight on the Starliner capsules. It can accommodate a total of seven people. Varholak states that the plastic parts are just as strong as aluminum, but weigh significantly less. According to Boeing, the weight savings can be up to sixty percent compared to the use of traditional materials. In addition, the aircraft manufacturer states that the plastic parts are cheaper.
Oxford has already started shipping parts for the Starliner. The plastic material, called PEKK, is resistant to heat and radiation, according to Oxford. Previous tests with NASA and aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman, among others, showed that PEKK can withstand temperatures of -150 to 150 degrees Celsius.
Boeing is making a total of three Starliner capsules for NASA under a contract worth $4.2 billion. The capsule is to serve, among other things, to bring people to the International Space Station. SpaceX, the company of entrepreneur Elon Musk, is also building a capsule for NASA in a similar project. This project is valued at $2.6 billion.
Oxford Performance Materials started as a materials company in 2000 and started using 3D printers in 2006 to produce high quality industrial parts. The company also makes aircraft parts, facial implants and replacement vertebrae for the human body. In 2012, the company entered the aerospace and defense market.