We Made A Rocket
Design a rocket that could be built in place inside one of the four bays of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center, which is 525 ft (160 m) tall. Utilize additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing) where possible, considering which materials might be able to be used and which ones may have to be brought in already manufactured.
We investigated the current approach to rocket building using many internet searches. We found that some of the components of current projects use 3D printing technology on Earth and this cuts down production time and costs. We also found out that the materials needed to build 3D parts for rockets were available.
We then investigated how we could design parts of a rocket with 3D software design packages and the processes we needed to go through (comparing sizes of components and how best to design them so they fitted together) and saw how long it would take to get the parts printed.
We printed a small rocket in one piece and then a bigger rocket in 4 pieces using a file with the design on that could be saved on a memory stick or emailed.
This means that parts could be emailed to a Moon or Mars colony.
We also thought about how materials from the journey to the colony (e.g. food packaging / parts of the space ship) could be recycled in order to "build the rocket as you go" and then build other 3D printed parts once you get to the destination.
3D Printer - Cube 2
Tinkercad design software to design the components:
Cubify software for translating the design to the printer readable format:
http://www.3dsystems.com/shop/support/cube2/downlo...
NASA's educational pages on rockets:
https://spaceflightsystems.grc.nasa.gov/education/...
Current commercial uses for the 3D printed parts:
Information about escape velocity of various planets including Earth:
http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/...
Information about what materials will 3D print:
