Engineers Test Combustion Chamber to Advance 3-D Printed Rocket Engine Design

A series of test firings like this one, brought a group of engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, a big step closer to their goal of a 100-percent 3-D printed rocket engine, said Andrew Hanks, test lead for the additively manufactured demonstration engine project. The primary combustion chamber, fuel turbopump, fuel injector, valves, and other components used in the tests were of the team's new design. All major engine components except the main combustion chamber were 3-D printed.