The control room of X-Bow Systems' mobile 3D-printing rocket factory.

The control room of X-Bow Systems' mobile 3D-printing rocket factory. X-Bow Systems

Air Force to Test 3D-Printed Rocket Motors

The maker, startup X-Bow Systems, recently accepted investment from Lockheed Martin.

The U.S. Air Force will test a “rocket factory in a box” made by a New Mexico startup in hopes of being able to 3D-print missile energetics.

The technology could allow the military to get solid rocket motors for less money, more quickly, and in remote locations.

“This is a technology push forward to see what the art of the possible is,” X-Bow Systems CEO Jason Hundley said in an interview.

For years, the Pentagon has talked about the need to diversify its space launch locations and get satellites into orbit in a matter of days.

“The Air Force Research Labs’ goal is to prove that a technology like this could actually exist and be movable and transportable,” Hundley said. “Part of our future work with the Air Force will be evaluating, you know, the effectiveness of that in different potential scenarios.”

X-Bow, pronounced “crossbow,” was founded in 2016, but operated in secrecy until March. In April, it announced it had raised $27 million in a Series A funding round. Lockheed Martin Ventures is among the startup’s investors, which is of note since the Federal Trade Commission blocked Lockheed from acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne, which also makes solid rocket motors

Solid rocket fuel is most commonly used in intercontinental ballistic missiles, anti-missile interceptors, and other military missiles and rockets. It is typically made by combining the raw materials in giant mixers, then pouring the solution into a rocket motor case. The casing is then put in a pit where it cures for several weeks.

Setting up a brick-and-mortar rocket factory takes years and costs hundreds of millions of dollars, Hundley said: “You're talking stuff that weighs multiple tons, and takes two to four years of lead time to order one, [and] get it installed and checked out.”

By comparison, X-Bow’s mobile factory travels inside four 20-foot shipping containers. Each box has a purpose: one is a control room, another holds the raw materials, another carries manufacturing equipment, and the last has the power and air-handling equipment to make it all work.

“Our process starts with raw chemicals and then basically at the other end, you're essentially… printing the energetics,” Hundley said.

And the fuel cures in one day, he said. 

The company began work on the rocket factory-in-a-box concept for the Air Force last year. It can currently produce hundreds of pounds of inert solid rocket fuel, Hundley said.

X-Bow plans to continue proving out its technology in the coming years. It believes its rocket motors could cost 80 to 90 percent cheaper than the factory-built motors of today, Hundley said. While the company doesn’t have its eyes set on the Air Force ICBMs and NASA rockets already in development, it believes its tech could be valuable on new types of rockets.

“Collapsing that time variable and that cost variable allows for entry of potentially new products,” he said.

Hundley also said X-Bow could help fill unmet demand..

“The industry is over capacity right now,” he said. “They cannot meet the demand and they are turning away smaller-end customers that we think will be excited to have somebody hand them a product within months, as opposed to five years down the line and when the big guys could get to them.”

Hundley compared the solid rocket motor industry to the orbital launch industry two decades ago. After years of consolidation, the Air Force relied on a single concern, the United Launch Alliance, to carry large military satellites into orbit. Then SpaceX came along and injected competition into the industry and lowered launch costs for the government.

“With our technology and our ability to basically rapidly turnaround the design timeframe, we think that we're going to see competitive opportunities for our business to grow very, very quickly, in the next few years,” he said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.