Boeing accelerates the production of spacecraft with 3D-printed solar panel structures
Boeing has introduced a 3D-printed solar array substrate design that compound building times cuts with no less than six months for a typical solar wing assembly, which represents up to a 50 percent faster production cycle compared to current methods.
The company has already completed technical tests on escape -ready hardware and goes through standard qualification steps for operational missions.
“Power determines the pace of a mission. We have reached our company to introduce efficiency and new technologies to determine a faster pace,” said Michelle Parker, vice -president of Boeing Space Mission Systems. “By integrating Boeing’s additive production expertise with spectrolab’s highly efficient solar technology and the high-quality production line of Millennium, our Space Mission Systems team makes the production speed in a capacity, so that customers help spring damage constellations faster.”
The first arrays with 3D-printed substrates will wear spectrolab sun cells on board Millennium Space Systems satellites, both subsidiaries of Boeing’s Space Mission Systems Division. The approach also supports parallel builds by combining rigid printed substrates with modular solar technologies.
Each printed panel integrates functions such as harness paths and assembly points directly into the structure, to replace dozens of individual parts, long -dank tools and sensitive binding steps. Boeing based the design on qualified, flight proven additive materials and processes, so that the assembly is simplified and the resilience is improved.
“While we are additive production scales in Boeing, we not only take time and costs, we use the performance,” says Melissa Orme, vice president, materials and structures, innovation of Boeing Technology. “By combining qualified materials with a common digital thread and high speed production, we can illuminate structures, artisan new designs and repeat success about programs. That is the point of Enterprise Additive, it delivers better parts and the capacity to build much more tomorrow.”
Boeing has already employed more than 150,000 3D-printed parts in his portfolio. This includes more than 1,000 radio frequency components per broadband Global SatCom satellite and various small satellite product lines with fully printed structures.
The new design scales from small spacecraft to larger platforms such as the Boeing 702 class, with commercial availability expected in 2026. Parallel panelprints with cell production, coupled with robot -like assembly and automated inspection at spectrolab, further reduces the production handling of the timelines.
Boeing develops, produces and serves commercial aircraft, defense systems and space technologies for customers in more than 150 countries. The company emphasizes innovation, sustainability and safety in its global workforce and supply chain.
