How NASA Is 3D Printing Wind Tunnel Tools to Speed Up Space Testing | The Cool Parts Show

To capture accurate data about the behavior of aeronautical models, NASA engineers utilize wind tunnel “balances,” devices that both support these models and carry the necessary instrumentation. Most modern balances have been produced through plunge EDM, a process that results in a long lead time to create a new device. At ‪@NASALANGLEY‬, engineers are developing 3D printed balances that can be made through laser powder bed fusion in weeks rather than months. In this episode, we visit the Center’s 4-Foot Supersonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel to see 3D printed stainless steel and titanium balances, and learn how they will be used in this wind tunnel and others. LEARN MORE ABOUT Case study on the qualification of a structural additively manufactured one-off component https://link.springer.com/article/10.... NASA Langley’s Supersonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT) seen in this episode, capable of testing speeds ranging to Mach 4.6 https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/arm... A dual-process, multimaterial thrust chamber assembly developed at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center    • 3D Printed NASA Thrust Chamber Assembly Co...   “Evolved” brackets developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center    • NASA Uses AI to Design 3D Printed Parts fo...   3D printed lattice for the Mars Sample Return developed at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory    • 3D Printing Crash Lands on Earth in NASA's...   3D printed parts for the Perseverance Rover    • 3D Printed Parts on the Mars Perseverance ...