WINNER! Huge congratulations to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and REM Surface Engineering on winning the prestigious Aerospace, Space or Defense Application of the Year at the 2024 3DPI Awards for their project: PBF-LB/Ti-6Al-4V Crush Lattices for Mars Sample Return Mission

Dr. Ryan T. Watkins, PhD, Research Scientist, Materials Development & Additive Manufacturing at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, shares the challenges and triumphs involved in creating 3D printed lattice structures that are as light as possible for the sake of the interplanetary travel:

“Doing something new is always hard. Doing something new on a flagship NASA mission is even harder. The team has done a great job making this 3D printed crushable lattice a reality, ranging from the development of UnitcellHub, a new opensource lattice design software tool, to the development of a novel chemical etching postprocess with our partner REM Surface Finishing to enable ultra-low density crushables. In many ways, this work exemplifies our work in the 3D printing industry, and NASA as a whole, using it to create light, high performance structures in ways that were never before possible.”

NASA JPL’s groundbreaking project, led by Dr. Watkins and supported by REM, successfully demonstrated and scaled the production of large, complex crush lattice components. Utilizing REM’s Chemical Polishing process, JPL was able to reduce the as-printed mass of these latticed by >80% while maintaining final tolerances of