SBIR Phase II: Solar Concentrator Unit for Low-Cost Metal Additive Manufacturing

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project comes from the development of a concentrated solar 3D printer capable of operating on the Moon. The 3D printer efficiently harnesses the heat of the Sun to fuse lunar soil into custom parts for producing mechanical components and structures. The resources on the Moon, particularly sunlight and soil, enable in situ parts production without the expensive step of launching materials from Earth. This capability for in-space manufacturing could be used for many applications. Furthermore, the proposed technology can be used to develop a low-cost, consumer 3D printer capable of fabricating custom components of metal, glass, and many previously inaccessible materials. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance development of a Solar Additive Manufacturing (SAM) test platform. This project will explore several feedstock materials, including lunar soil simulants, glass, and a select metal. Test coupons will be produced to characterize part quality and strength and iterative testing will be performed to optimize printer performance. Custom mechanical components will then be produced from lunar soil simulants as a demonstration of practical parts for lunar manufacturing. The final stage of the project will be to reduce system complexity and design a lightweight, purpose-built solar 3D printer. This effort will produce a low-cost solar printer ready for the consumer market as well as a lunar payload prototype design for testing in a lunar environment. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.