SAN FRANCISCO – Additive-manufacturing startup Raven Space Systems secured agreements to work with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Rocket Propulsion Division.
In addition, Kansas City, Missouri-based Raven has won Air Force, NASA and the National Science Foundation contracts valued at more than $4 million to apply its patented microwave-assisted deposition (MAD) process to aerospace and defense products.
“We’re on a mission to transform how we make composite materials,” said Black Herren, Raven CEO and co-founder. “Essentially, we’re able to unlock scalable deposition-based printing of commercial-off-the-shelf thermosets, ceramics and composite materials for the first time by hardening the materials, as we print, using microwaves.”
Raven is developing, for example, 3D-printed aeroshells for hypersonic flight testing under a $1.8-million AFRL Small Business Technology Transfer contract.
The MAD process is based on direct ink write (DIW) printing, which Herren called “the most versatile 3D-printing technology that no one’s heard of.”
“DIW has been stuck in the lab, making tiny samples, for a couple decades,” Herren said. “We’re able to print big things for the first time by using the microwaves in our process.”
Solid Rocket Motors
Initially, Raven will produce solid rocket motor nozzles and thermal protection systems.
“A lot of companies are 3D printing solid rocket motor cases and fuel,” Herren said. “But no one is doing nozzles and insulation. That’s where we’ve identified a beachhead.”
Working with experts at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement and the AFRL Rocket Propulsion Division through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, Raven will test and characterize printed solid rocket motor parts.
“We’re focused developing the most efficient production line by integrating all the processes, from raw materials to end-use parts,” Herren said.
After building printer prototypes, Raven plans to begin selling parts this year produced in an industrial-scale printer with a cubic meter build volume.
Financing
Raven raised $2 million in a pre-seed investment round announced in November. Backswing Ventures led the financing. 46 Venture Capital, Mana Ventures, What If Ventures and Cape Fear Ventures participated.
Beyond nozzles and insulation, Raven could apply its MAD process to “virtually every component of solid rocket motors” plus satellites, autonomous drones and attritable aircraft, Herren said.
