Returnable testbed for in-orbit manufacturing processes for large structures o telecom satellites (artes at 3e.027)

The objective of the activity is to develop and characterize an additive manufacturing process to enable in-orbit manufacturing of large structural parts for satcom applications (e.g. large reflector, large solar array, large radiator structure). An in-orbit test-bed will be designed, manufactured and operated. Test-samples and complex demonstrators will be produced in order to evaluate the developed end-to-end in-orbit manufacturing process.Targeted Improvements: Enabling large in-orbit manufactured satcom hardware (e.g. large reflector, large solar array, radiator structure) not possible today.Description: Recent studies have explored the possibility of making large structures in orbit for future satcom applications, revealing new opportunities for applications, services andmarkets.The use of in-orbit additive manufacturing could eliminate the constraints of the launch vehicle fairings and the complexity of the deployment mechanisms, which are currently required for large deployables (e.g. very large reflectors, radiators and booms) relative to the platform size. However, the effects of microgravity, thermal, vacuum, and radiation on the additive manufacturing process in space are not well known, especially when assessing the structural, thermophysical and thermoelastic properties of the fabricated parts.This activity will characterize, through the production of test samples, the space environmental effects on the additive manufacturing processes required for future in-orbit manufacturing of large structural parts for satcom applications. An onboard testbed, using well established additive manufacturing processes and space qualified materials, will bedeveloped, manufactured andvalidated. The testbed shall accommodate visual and in situ measurements of the manufacturing process (e.g. temperature, molecular/particulate contamination induced by the process, etc) as well as allowing for the retrieval of the produced specimens for post-analysis on Earth. The testbed will also be used to producecomplex demonstrators (e.g. reflectors, booms and radiators or representative parts thereof). All in-orbit produced parts will be returned to Earth for post-analysis.The activity will be implemented in a phased approach. The first phase of the activity will develop, manufacture and achieve flight readiness of the testbed. The testbed performance will be validated on ground with reference test samples being produced and characterised. Phase 1 output will comprise of:Flight ready in-orbit manufacturing testbed, characterised end-to-end manufacturing process and reference test samples. The second phase will launch and operate the test bed to investigate the end-to-end additive manufacturing process in the space environment. Phase 2 will produce test samples in-orbit for process and material characterisation that are collected and returned for on ground analysis and comparison.The test results will be fed into Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) models to optimise in-orbit manufacturing parameters and processes for the production ofthe complex demonstrators.