[Reading Science] Lower the 'Cost per kg'... Fierce Competition in Introducing 3D in Space Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The biggest obstacle in the New Space era, where the private sector leads space development, is 'money.' To create a market, attract customers, and generate profits, spacecraft must be built and satellites launched at the lowest possible cost. Accordingly, countries around the world continue efforts to reduce costs through rocket reuse and modular satellite production. South Korea is no exception.

On the 24th, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology announced that Dr. Son Yong's research team at the 3D Printing Manufacturing Innovation Center succeeded in producing a prototype of a propellant tank for space launch vehicles using metal 3D printing technology. This product reportedly passed performance evaluation by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, raising expectations. The research team applied metal 3D printing technology to create a common bulkhead (two spheres stacked vertically) shape by combining two tanks into one. Conventional propellant tanks for launch vehicles were made separately for the 'oxidizer' and 'fuel' tanks and joined in a figure-eight shape, which created unnecessary gaps and increased volume, reducing space efficiency. The team devised a manufacturing technique that stacks one tank directly on top of another on a single tank wall. This improved space efficiency by 12% and reduced component weight by 27% in the upper design of small launch vehicles, significantly contributing to weight reduction.

The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology stated, "It has been verified that 3D printing technology has reached the commercialization stage, moving beyond prototype production to actual field application." They added, "We expect 3D printing technology to replace traditional production methods for space launch vehicle tanks such as molding, welding, and cutting, and to bring benefits such as increased design freedom, process automation, and shortened production time."

Efforts to reduce the cost of manufacturing space rockets and satellites are already active worldwide. Relativity Space, a U.S. space development startup considered a leader in 3D printing-based space rocket manufacturing, produces most rocket parts and materials using 3D printers. Their goal is to reduce the number of parts to 1/100 of the conventional amount and shorten production time to two months. They have developed Stargate, the world's largest metal 3D printer, to manufacture space rockets and have already achieved significant results, including completing over 300 combustion tests of the liquid-fuel engine 'Aeon' produced by 3D printing.

Traditionally, manufacturing space rockets requires thousands of parts to be individually processed through molding or casting, demanding enormous costs, time, and manpower. However, 3D printing drastically reduces these requirements. Accordingly, NASA and private space companies like SpaceX also produce parts using 3D printing.

Currently, manufacturing and launching space rockets and satellites involve enormous costs. According to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, medium-to-large rockets capable of transporting multiple satellites typically cost around 20 million KRW per kilogram. Taking the U.S. Atlas V as an example, the launch cost in 2015 was approximately $160 million, with a maximum payload of only 8.1 tons. This equates to about $19,700 per kilogram. Recently, SpaceX, leading the private space development boom, has ignited global price competition in the space industry by drastically reducing costs.

SpaceX has lowered the cost per launch to $61 million through 3D printing adoption and rocket reuse, and plans to reduce it further to the $6 million range. In response, France's Arianespace plans to reduce the launch cost of its next-generation Ariane 6 from the current $160 million to around $70 million, and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries aims to cut the launch cost of its next-generation H3 rocket to about 5 billion yen, half the previous cost. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is also entering the competition with Blue Origin through reusable rocket development, competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Meanwhile, South Korea's first Korean-type space launch vehicle, 'Nuriho,' scheduled for launch in October, was developed at a cost of approximately 1.957 trillion KRW but has a payload capacity of 1.5 tons. This translates to a cost of about 1.3 billion KRW per kilogram.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.