U.S. Air Force Awards Contract to Orbital Composites for Revolutionary Carbon-Carbon Composite Manufacturing
The project will demonstrate methods of producing lower-cost and higher-complexity parts relating to hypersonic aircraft
Campbell, CA. – September 7, 2023 – Orbital Composites today announced that it has secured a prestigious Direct-to-Phase-II SBIR contract from the United States Air Force (USAF) to develop next-generation carbon-carbon (C/C) composite manufacturing technology, and print parts for American hypersonic platforms.
Orbital Composite's breakthrough 3D printing process aims to reduce cycle times and costs by an order of magnitude compared to conventional manufacturing of these advanced materials.
Carbon/carbon composites, renowned for their strength and lightweight properties, have traditionally come with a hefty price tag, often limiting their broader application. Orbital Composites' innovative technique presents a game-changer, enabling more extensive use of these materials across multiple defense and civilian aerospace applications.
For carbon-carbon composites, Orbital's 3D printing process reduces cycle times by 10x compared to conventional manufacturing.
Orbital’s factory will be able to produce carbon-carbon parts in weeks rather than several months.
In sum, Orbital aims to disruptively reduce C/C cycle times from months to weeks, and cut costs by 10x across defense, aerospace, aviation, and energy applications.
Carbon-carbon composites are critical for applications like hypersonic vehicles, reusable launch systems, and deep space exploration where ultra-high temperature resistance is required. But, as explained above, conventional processes remain expensive and artisanal.
"We are proud to support American leadership in hypersonics, aerospace, and clean energy," said Amolak Badesha, CEO and co-founder of Orbital Composites. “Our technology enables rapid design, testing, and production of ceramic matrix composites that are essential for accelerating the adoption of these advanced materials in a broad range of aerospace and clean energy applications.”
Added CTO and founder Cole Nielsen: “Orbital is building a factory that is redefining the possibilities for the future of aerospace and energy. Our work on C/C and other ceramic matrix composites will enable global scale hypersonic transportation of cargo and people”
Orbital's process delivers the unique capability to 3D print carbon-carbon components with high complexity and exotic shapes, which is impossible with conventional manufacturing constraints. This facilitates designs optimized for thermal management, fluid dynamics, and other performance factors critical to advanced hypersonic vehicle systems.
This technology has applications far beyond just hypersonic flight, including:
Reusable space planes, in nose cones, leading edges, and reentry heat shields
Rockets, in nozzle linings and various structural components
Satellites, in chassis, optical benches, and antennas
Aircraft, in brake discs and landing gear
Vehicles, in clutch plates, braking systems, and structural components
Clean energy, in hydrogen, fuel-cells, thermal energy storage and nuclear fusion reactors.
And more…including deep sea structures, high-temperature furnaces, and semiconductor fabrication.
With the SBIR contract, Orbital aims to demonstrate manufacturing of large, complex geometries with repeatability and consistency. The company will also continue to scale up its production capability to meet the defense and commercial market needs. This technology has the promise to cement American leadership in the new space race, while supporting the nation’s energy transition, reshoring efforts, and wider American dynamism efforts.
Orbital Composites recently announced that it has secured a total of three SBIR contracts, including the carbon-carbon composite manufacturing award detailed in today’s announcement. The trio of awards follows a $1.7 million direct-to-phase II SBIR, from the USSF and SpaceWERX, that Orbital was awarded last month with Axiom Space, Northrop Grumman, and Southwest Research Institute. Together, these four SBIR contracts are worth nearly $5 million.
Orbital Composites recently received another government award, which will be announced in the coming days.
About Orbital Composites:
Orbital Composites is an advanced aerospace engineering company based in Campbell, CA. The company specializes in applying novel materials and 3D printing techniques to produce complex, high-performance systems at dramatically lower cost and lead time for space, defense, and energy applications. Orbital Composites is a leader in areas like digital manufacturing, in-space servicing, advanced thermal management, and communications systems. For more information, visit orbitalcomposites.com.