Canadian aerospace startup NordSpace is looking to German engineering to develop a medium-lift rocket engine with new 3D printing techniques.
The company announced on Thursday that it will receive up to $335,000 in funding and advisory services from the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) for a research and development project to improve its additive manufacturing (another term for 3D printing) capabilities for medium-lift rocket engines.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is an example of a medium-lift launch vehicle. Toronto-based Kepler Communications recently used one to send its data center satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO), and Nordspace plans to do the same this year with its own satellites.
Nordspace said the project involves collaboration between Canada and Germany as it teams up with the German research institute Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology and the German company SWMS.
Fraunhofer developed a “world-leading” laser-based additive manufacturing capability, according to Nordspace, and SWMS provides an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered advanced manufacturing planning optimization software. The partnership will push the 3D printing production methods Nordspace is using for its Hadfield engines in its recently opened Advanced Manufacturing for Aerospace Lab.
NordSpace said it’s trying to make orbital launch vehicles scalable from light to medium-lift payload capacities. Its Tundra and Tundra+ light lift vehicles, capable of 500 kg and 1,100 kg to LEO, respectively, are being designed to scale to the medium lift Titan, capable of lifting 5,000 kg to LEO, by the early 2030s.
In a statement, NordSpace founder and CEO Rahul Goel said the project represents a “crucial step” for the startup to “work with world-leading technology partners in Germany to bring additive manufacturing breakthroughs that will directly benefit Canada’s industrial base.”
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A recent push for sovereign space and defence capabilities has fostered a domestic space race in Canada. Nordspace wants to develop space launch vehicles, spaceports, and satellites entirely in Canada, and has repeatedly attempted to launch its first suborbital rocket from its Atlantic Spaceport Complex in Newfoundland.
Last week, the Toronto-based Canada Rocket Company emerged from stealth with seed funding from entirely Canadian investors to support its mission to deliver sovereign, medium-lift space launch capability.
NordSpace said it will provide updates on the development project at the Canadian Space Launch Conference in Ottawa on May 5.
Feature image courtesy Nordspace.