N2K Space Network Announcer (9:26)

Thank you, Maria. We have three additional stories today. First, RTX's Collins Aerospace and the Goyal Netherlands Air and Space Force has established a new military avionics service center. Crossbow has completed installation of its additive manufacturing of solid propellant. They're completing initial operational testing of this patented production system at its Texas campus. And our third story is that BAE Systems has added new capabilities to its radiation hardened 12 nanometer integrated circuits. As a reminder, links to all of those stories and original sources for everything we mentioned throughout this episode can be found on our website space.n2k.com hi T - listeners.

Maria Varmazis (10:06)

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Maria Varmazis (12:00)

Our guest today is Derek Harris, head of Business development at Skyrora and they've recently been awarded a new contract from ESA for 3D printing and I asked Derek to tell me more about how that came about.

Derek Harris (12:16)

A few years ago we were approached because we had made our own 3D printer. It can print over 2 meters by 2 meters, which allows us to 3D print our engines. It has a huge sort of base for that, but it also has a machining head on the same machine. So whereas old printer styles, you need to print, take it off, do your machining, put it back on to the exact millimeter. We can do everything without removing it. So this allowed us to be welcomed into a consortium called Made3D, which is made up of some of the bigger players within Europe. So Siemens, Safra and things like this, and we have been the print partner of choice so they will look at different projects. So one of the projects we're looking at is bimetallic printing. So taking copper onto inconel so that gives the heat resistance to the engine means you don't need as much inconel so it's lighter and a lot of good benefits for anyone trying to launch into space. So because of that, we've kind of got the reputation to go to for these sort of things. When it comes to if you need to print something and are looking to do new or innovative alloys for that purpose, Skyroto seems to be the ones that people are coming to. And that's kind of what's happened by Metalysis and Thermo Calc when we're talking about Cambium.

Maria Varmazis (13:36)

Beautiful segue there. This is the more recent Skyrora news with a number of partners that you just mentioned. So this also relates to an ESA project, so please do tell me a little bit more about that, if you don't mind.

Derek Harris (13:49)

Yeah, so this has came in under what's called gstp, and it's all about basically advancements that can be used within different sectors in space. And on this occasion there was a new alloy being looked at, as I mentioned earlier, Cambium. And what this allows us to do is very, very similar to Inc Nail, which we currently use within that, but it's got better properties, it's got better heat resistant, is lighter, and it can actually be cheaper once it's up and running. And or at least that's what we hope for that. So metallysis is helping to create this actual new alloy. And the whole program for us is very early steps towards full adoption. But what it means is we will produce what I like to call little nuggets. So they're roughly about the size of a credit card and somewhere between maybe 5 and 10 millimeter thick for that purpose. And then that allows us to do all the testing we need to start with on things like thermal properties, how brittle it is, and basically just all the testing, you would expect to go through a normal mail that would be part of any sort of spacecraft. So it's very, very exciting to have been asked and to have joined with these companies because we see this as a way of securing Sovereign Launch as well. Going forward. We're seeing a huge amount in and around the world at the moment with people sort of looking at minerals, and we've seen the recent minerals deals that's been signed. All of this is highly important to make sure that the UK and Sky Rota as such, has access and the ability to continue launching in that access for space.

Maria Varmazis (15:29)

Absolutely. And can you tell me a little bit about Tanbium?

Derek Harris (15:33)

So that's a very good question. So when we're talking about Tambium, one of the largest indicators with it is it will have a much stronger tensile strength while also providing heat resistance a much better level than what Inconel currently does do. So when it comes to engines, it's going to be a very speciality alloy, perfect for the space industry. We've been using Inconel for many, many years in oil and gas. So it's been a while since we've had that sort of generational jump. So that's where the major benefits will come in from that. On the flip side, the actual being able to generate and bring this actual alloy to the marketplace. When we first look at where some of the key elements, when we talk about Inconel and where that was coming out of, we're looking at the coming out of some nations at the moment that are obviously in conflict around the world or that we don't have the best geopolitical relationships with at all occasions. So your Russia, your China, things like this. So being able to bring through this new alloy, which looking at the main differences here with this for that purpose and when we look at the actual manufacturing is pretty novel, is. I'll try and pronounce this correctly. Hafnium free tantalum niobium alloy base. So what that means with this basically is that the main key information that we're looking to get from this is byproducts of zirconium, for example, which comes out of China, who does a lot of refining for major processing, but Brazil, who is actually quite a big partner with the US at the moment, for example. So being able to get these alloys and the individual elements between that much easier and from trusted allies is going to be huge. As I said, it takes away the scarcity value on the open market and.

Maria Varmazis (17:32)

Also feeds back into the idea of greater space sovereignty from beginning to end. So not just, not just the end result of sovereign launch, but also all the way back through the supply chain of sovereign and more trusted access. So that makes, and it makes a great deal of sense. And I was thinking also the name tantalum and then niobium are in there, so you get tanbium. Ah, okay, light bulb moment.

Derek Harris (17:56)

I'd say when you look at the names of some of these things, it's like I think I know what they are, but let's just have a double check, let's look at the ingredients list because you could be wrong, which is always the case for me. And the minute I put something out Wrong. I know the team will be on me in a heartbeat, so I have to make sure they're correct. But my major hope with this project is this is the starting point again. So I was asked recently by a student who was studying and he's doing a report, he's saying, well, are we theoretically at the end of the jumps that we can do when it comes through to chemical propulsion? I'm like, well, pretty much we're at the theoretical limits of those, so there's a bit of an issue there. So what can we do until then? And say, well, until we develop new novel ways of propulsion, or obviously, you've got electric, you've got nuclear, things like this. We kind of need to look at the materials we're using and how we can make things better, how can we do them stronger? And so if we're talking sustainability point of view, we're talking from an environmental aspect, from an economical aspect, and obviously, as we were mentioning earlier, the geopolitical aspect, that as well. So I hope this is the first stage in a jump on some of the materials that we're now using within space. Imagine everything goes to plan and it's the full gold star from ESA. Yeah, you are completely correct, 100% on your homework, your predictions and theory were right. And it prints so well and it's there, it replaces it. So there you go. That then can maybe influence. And this is just don't take this number as gospel, but this is. Say it takes 10% of an engine weight, so you have nine engines. That's almost one full engine weight off your vehicle. It's huge sort of differences with this. And there's up and down the uk with some of the major universities we're looking at, they're all looking at advanced manufacturing techniques and things that we can do better. Not really aimed at space mostly, but other sectors, because obviously, while the UK has done a huge amount of space, especially in and around satellites, we've always been sort of more dominant and innovative in other sectors. So seeing that technology now being turned back and their eyes on us, I think what you'll see over the next three to five years is huge, huge global gambles on different types of materials to be tested. Because at the end of the day, it only costs a small amount of money with these grants to do the testing. But if you find a new alloy that can be used within space, the money that you can gain back or the savings you can gain back is just unbelievable for that purpose. So I think the programs similar to the GSTP which ESA have run and allowed us to be funded for this project are an absolute must. And it's one of the ways that they, European Union and the UK can sort of try and catch back up to the US since we abandoned the sort of special ordering lodge we abandoned and what in the 70s again.

Maria Varmazis (21:03)

So I really look forward to seeing all the incredible advancements coming out of the UK and the EU over the next few years. It's going to be amazing to see and it is amazing to see frankly going on right now. Is there an expected rough timeline for maybe when we'll hear the results of this effort or.

Derek Harris (21:18)

I mean, yeah, I expect we're talking from looking at the paperwork we have to provide the field reports to ESA within about eight to 12 months. So it'll be quite a quick turnaround on the first stage with that. And I think even before that will be finished, we'll have a sort of indication ourselves to how it's performing and such and how it's printing and if it's performing well, I'm sure the team and I will be sort of going back saying, okay, it's looking good. Can we, can we go for something bigger? Can we maybe make one of the small engines and test fire out of the alloy and things like this? So I know everyone involved is really, really passionate to try and see where it can go. And as I said, we just have to take that step by step and hopefully we'll be there to enjoy it. And the next time I come on, I can see about the success and maybe even show you a video of us testing.

Maria Varmazis (22:11)

Oh my gosh, that would be amazing to see. Well, I wish you all the best of luck with this and great success. And Derek, is there anything else you wanted to add or leave our audience with before we head out today?

Derek Harris (22:22)

I think the biggest thing is hopefully we've been pretty quiet for the last year or so while we've just been putting our head down and working hard to get our license and to aim towards launch. Hopefully next year I'll have a lot more fun that you can sit and watch. So everyone knows the fun part about rockets is watching the engines and watching things launch. So hopefully next year I'll have a lot more footage for you. So watch this space and without the pun.

Maria Varmazis (22:59)

We'll be right back.

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Maria Varmazis (23:53)

Welcome back. Some happy news has two teams just beaming today. A joint mission between the Chinese Academy of Sciences, or cas, and esa or the European Space Agency, in fact just passed its qualification and flight acceptance review and now has its launch window. And that mission is the Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer. And the acronym is Drum roll please. Smile. No, no, that's not a directive from me. That is the name of the mission. It is Smile the name of the mission. Smile that mission Smile. We'll be looking at Sunbeams sort of Instrumentation aboard the Smile mission include particle and magnetic field detectors along with UV and X ray cameras, and they will all be used to study how the Earth reacts to particle streams and radiation bursts from our local star. The goal of Smile is to help humanity get a more complete understanding of the Sun Earth connection by measuring solar wind and how it interacts with our magnetosphere. The launch window for the smile mission starts April 8 and goes to May 7, 2026, and it will launch aboard a Vega C from Kourou, French Guiana, after it leaves its current testing site at ESTEC in the Netherlands, where it recently received its happy news of completing its assembly, integration and testing phase. And understandably, when you look at the press release about this mission's news, the joint ESA CAS teams were indeed all smiles. And that's T minus. Brought to you by N2K CyberWire we'd love to know what you think of our podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like our show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to space2k.com we are proud that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector. From the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies, N2K helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn and stay informed. As the nexus for discovery and connection, we bring you the people, the technology and the ideas shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn how@n2k.com N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Peter Kilpie is our publisher and I am your host, Maria Varmazes. Thank you for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

Derek Harris (26:50)

T minus.

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