London: Fuelled by beer and the enthusiasm of amateurs, a British team on Friday said it was preparing to launch the world's first ever 3D printed rocket.
Showing off the human-sized rocket in a central London office, Lester Haines, head of the "Special Projects Bureau" at technology magazine The Register, described the technical challenges and "big future" of 3D printing in aeronautics.
"You can do highly complex shapes that simply aren't practical to do any other way," he told AFP, dressed in a white lab coat sporting the project motto "Ad astra tabernamque", which means "to the stars and the pub".
"NASA are already 3D-printing metal rocket parts, so it's obviously got a big future."
The project -- sponsored by German data analytics firm Exasol -- was suggested by readers of The Register and goes by the grand title "Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator", or LOHAN for short.
It took 30 committed team-members, including doctorate aeronautical engineers, four years to build the rocket.
The biggest challenge, according to Haines, was getting the standard hobbyist rocket motor to fire at high altitudes.
The team said it will launch the rocket from Spaceport America, the home of Virgin Galactic in New Mexico, later this year, after securing the 15,000 pounds ($24,000, 19,000 euros) needed for lift-off on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.
A huge helium balloon will lift the rocket 20,000 metres (65,600 feet) into the stratosphere, at which point the onboard GPS will ignite the engine, catapulting it to speeds of around 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometres) per hour.
The three-kilogramme rocket, which cost 6,000 pounds to print, will then use an onboard autopilot to guide it back to Earth, all captured by an onboard video camera.
Haines explained how 3D printing's main advantage was in speeding up the process of refining prototypes, requiring only a tweak to the computer-aided design (CAD) plans that instruct the printer.
He called LOHAN "a because it's there project", and had no commercial value, but added that the number of potential uses for similar Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) was "endless".
With the countdown on, Haines dispelled any suggestions the crew was feeling the pressure.
"We got some of the team turning up for a beer tonight," he revealed. "It's going to get really messy."
Showing off the human-sized rocket in a central London office, Lester Haines, head of the "Special Projects Bureau" at technology magazine The Register, described the technical challenges and "big future" of 3D printing in aeronautics.
"You can do highly complex shapes that simply aren't practical to do any other way," he told AFP, dressed in a white lab coat sporting the project motto "Ad astra tabernamque", which means "to the stars and the pub".
The project -- sponsored by German data analytics firm Exasol -- was suggested by readers of The Register and goes by the grand title "Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator", or LOHAN for short.
Advertisement
The biggest challenge, according to Haines, was getting the standard hobbyist rocket motor to fire at high altitudes.
Advertisement
A huge helium balloon will lift the rocket 20,000 metres (65,600 feet) into the stratosphere, at which point the onboard GPS will ignite the engine, catapulting it to speeds of around 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometres) per hour.
Advertisement
Haines explained how 3D printing's main advantage was in speeding up the process of refining prototypes, requiring only a tweak to the computer-aided design (CAD) plans that instruct the printer.
Advertisement
With the countdown on, Haines dispelled any suggestions the crew was feeling the pressure.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Alaya Furniturewalla's Black Midi Dress Was A Stylish Boon To Her London Trip Britain Failed By Flawed Planning For Coronavirus Pandemic, Probe Finds Video Of London Startup's Tiffin Service Inspired By Mumbai Dabbawalas Goes Viral Woman Dies, Many Feared Trapped After Portion Of Mumbai Building Collapses The 'Fake' CrowdStrike Worker Who Crippled Windows Users Worldwide On Sonu Sood's Post About Kanwar Yatra Order, Kangana Ranaut's Rejoinder On Sonu Sood's Post About Kanwar Yatra Order, Kangana Ranaut's Rejoinder Salma Hayek Is A Garden Full Of Daisies Summed In A Dress Dutch Content Creator Finds Hotel Room For $1.4 In Pak, Internet Reacts Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.