NASA laser wire 3D printing of rocket nozzles is much cheaper and five times faster

A new process called Laser Wire Direct Closeout (LWDC) was developed and advanced at NASA to build a less-expensive rocket nozzle in significantly less time. LWDC is a different process than most 3-D printing technologies, which are powder-based and fabricated in layers. It uses a freeform-directed energy wire deposition process to fabricate material in place. …

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Rocket Lab successfully reaches orbit and deploys payloads and will charge less than $5 million per launch

Rocket Lab has successfully reached orbit with the test flight of its second Electron orbital launch vehicle, Still Testing. Electron lifted-off at 14:43 NZDT from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. Following successful first and second stage burns, Electron reached orbit and deployed customer payloads at 8 minutes and …

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Lawrence Livermore unlocks 3D printing to smaller than 150 nanometer features

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have discovered novel ways to extend the capabilities of two-photon lithography (TPL), a high-resolution 3D printing technique capable of producing nanoscale features smaller than one-hundredth the width of a human hair. The findings unleashes the potential for X-ray computed tomography (CT) to analyze stress or defects noninvasively in embedded …

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Google and UCSB achieve 3D integration of Superconducting qubits

Researchers from Google and the University of California Santa Barbara have taken an important step towards the goal of building a large-scale quantum computer. Writing in the journal Quantum Science and Technology, they present a new process for creating superconducting interconnects, which are compatible with existing superconducting qubit technology. The race to develop the first …

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Spacefab bootstrapping higher resolution space telescopes and then manufacturing in space at asteroids

Spacefab is currently building ther Waypoint space telescope with a 21 centimeter mirror. It is launching as a co-payload on a SpaceX rocket in 2019. This commercial telescope will have an image intensified ultraviolet and visible camera, and a 48 megapixel camera for visible and near-infrared imaging for astronomical and Earth observation purposes, available for …

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3D System on a chip can solve memory problems and boost compute performance 1000 times by 2021

3D System on a chip technology at 7 nanometer lithography can provide a 1000X speed up for machine learning and other applications. The S3S 2017 program includes a paper by MonolithIC 3D Inc which will present a monolithic 3D technology that is low cost and ready to be rapidly deployed using the current transistor processes. …

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World changing dense metal 3d printing with 100 times faster speed and 20 times lower cost

Desktop Metal was created to change the way we bring products to market. Current metal 3D printing is too expensive and industrial for prototyping and it’s not fast enough or cost-effective enough for mass production. Fundamentally different approaches are needed to move metal 3D printing beyond its current limits. Desktop Metal, a company specializing in …

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30 foot long proof of concept 3D printed submarine hull will be ten times cheaper

The Us Navy partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to 3D print its first submersible that could be used to deploy logistics capabilities and sensors. Through a partnership with the Navy’s Disruptive Technology Lab, the team at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) created the military’s first 3D-printed submersible hull. The Optionally Manned Technology Demonstrator is …

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3D Printing of Metal that is 1000 times faster and 100 times lower cost

A new 3D printer creates metal parts at commercial production speeds. Their SPEE3D printer has the potential to turn 3D metal printing, which currently is just making prototypes of parts, into a tool for manufacturing actual parts for use. It is up to 1000 times quicker than conventional 3D metal printers. The entrepreneurs behind an …

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New 3-D carbon nanotube chip combines computing and data storage

Instead of relying on silicon-based devices, a new 3D chip uses carbon nanotubes, which are sheets of 2-D graphene formed into nanocylinders, and resistive random-access memory (RRAM) cells, a type of nonvolatile memory that operates by changing the resistance of a solid dielectric material. The researchers integrated over 1 million RRAM cells and 2 million …

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