Boeing's large high-end satellites cost as much as $150 million, but according to the Wall Street Journal, their latest plan is to use 3D printing technology and modular design to reduce costs.
Boeing's large high-end satellites cost as much as $150 million, but according to the Wall Street Journal, their latest plan is to use 3D printing technology and modular design to reduce costs. The current way Boeing makes satellites requires manual assembly of each custom-made part, which takes one to two years at every turn, making the material and time costs quite high. That's why Paul Rusnock, the company's director of satellite operations, revealed in an interview with WSJ that they can no longer respond to competition in the market with this production method.
Competitors have introduced modular designs when making smaller, less expensive satellites, and the mass production feature has also greatly reduced costs. Airbus and OneWeb (a startup co-funded by Virgin and Qualcomm), are using automated production lines to make parts at their Florida factory, and their hundreds of production volumes make each small satellite cost as little as approx. Just $500,000. Of course, Boeing won't make large satellites at the same production volume, but at least it can greatly reduce the production time of each satellite. Rusnock said they have "recognized the need to dramatically shorten the production schedule." The company's ultimate goal is to make the satellites in the same time they took them to make the full 737: just 11 days.
With 3D printing and other new ways of making parts already implemented on their Los Angeles-based production line, Boeing now has a chance to formally apply it to a business plan and expand the same approach to other satellite models. However, the modular satellite also has an obvious shortcoming, that is, its service life is only half of the current satellite made by hand, about 7 to 8 years. Fortunately, Boeing also said that their customers are also ready to update satellites on a regular basis, so the price is lower, and the satellites with a modular design are more in line with demand.
The original text comes from: http://www.linuxidc.com/Linux/2017-02/140942.html
Address of this article: http://www.linuxprobe.com/mordent-3d-satellite.html Editor: Cheng Wei, Auditor: Pang Zengbao