California-based Space Systems Loral (SSL), a company that designs and builds satellites and spacecraft systems for commercial and government customers, announced that it has successfully introduced additive manufacturing techniques for titanium and graphite structural components into its geostationary satellite platform.
The strut-truss antenna tower consists of 37 3D printed titanium nodes and more than 80 graphite struts. The strut-truss design methodology is now standard for SSL spacecraft, with 13 additional structures in various stages of design and manufacturing.
SSL has said that additive manufacturing has enabled an average of 50 percent reductions in mass and schedule for large and complex structures.