Supernova Defense & Space is using Viscous Lithography-based Manufacturing (VLM) to enable new energetic material applications, specifically rocket motors and pyrotechnics. Additive manufacturing enables greater geometric complexity, unlocking performance gains in existing missile platforms and enabling future design miniaturization.
I spoke with Nirup Nagabandi, the CTO of Supernova Defense & Space, about transforming energetics manufacturing using an additive technology built for high-viscosity materials.
Supernova Defense & Space, a business unit of the Supernova VLM photopolymer group, is leveraging what Nagabandi calls a “materials-first approach” in an industry traditionally driven by hardware evolution. “If you can’t process the material you need, then the hardware or the software is not going to do much,” he says.
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Viscous Lithography-based Manufacturing differs from traditional stereolithography (SLA) by enabling the use of high-viscosity slurries; resin-powder blends more akin to clay than liquid. These are typical in energetic materials like rocket motor propellants, igniters, fuses, and military pyrotechnics, where they’re usually cast with severe geometric constraints. “If you can bring even one or two levels of geometric freedom to that, then we would improve performance on a lot of these applications that were essentially saturated for 50 years,” Nagabandi explains.
While photopolymer printing has evolved from early brittle, fast-curing prototypes, Supernova’s technology targets functional parts. The CTO, formerly head of materials R&D at Essentium and briefly at Nexa3D post-acquisition, sees an opening in defense-grade energetics, where particle-laden thermoset binders are difficult to shape with existing techniques.
“The idea is that you don’t want to re-engineer the whole system,” he says of current solid rocket motor designs. “But if you want to increase the performance…if I can change my burn pattern, I could get there.” Burn rates and combustion profiles are dictated by the geometry of the propellant grain; even minor enhancements in internal structure can yield double-digit improvements in range.
Supernova is currently targeting smaller systems, rocket motors under 20 inches in diameter, where additive’s benefits align with existing defense architectures. Nagabandi pegs the US market for these segments at $2 to $2.5 billion, potentially rising to $6-7 billion when factoring in other charge and pyrotechnic uses.
Looking further ahead, he sees additive enabling next-gen orbital systems with smaller footprints. “Now I need about 200,000 pounds of propellant to get there. Well, can I get it in 160,000?” he asks. “That’s 20% less size, less cost, faster timelines.” But he cautions that such system-level redesigns depend on confidence that will build over time, “That’s why I say it’s about five to ten years.”
The proposition is clear: keep the rocket, but rethink the grain. With VLM, Supernova aims to turn 20th-century energetics into a 21st-century design space.
Supernova targets energetics leap with additive binders and DoD backing
In the opaque and tightly regulated world of energetics, Supernova Defense & Space is attempting what few others have risked: reshaping the production of high-explosive and propellant materials using additive manufacturing (AM). The company’s approach focuses not only on geometric freedom, but on enabling a shift in how sensitive materials like RDX, HMX, and even CL-20 (the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known) are handled and produced.
“These are powders mixed with thermosetting binders,” says Nirup Nagabandi, CTO of Supernova Defense. “It ends up being like a thick clay. You either pour or cast it, which gives very little geometric freedom.” The breakthrough lies in reengineering the binder to be light-curable, suitable for the Viscous Lithography-based Manufacturing (VLM) process the company employs.
Unlike traditional UV systems used in stereolithography, VLM handles high-solids-content resins. This is critical when energetic fill ratios exceed 90% by volume. “We’re working on a UV-curable binder,” Nagabandi explains, specifying the light source operates around 405 nm, which falls into the visible range. This development could allow remote, non-contact production of explosives, significantly reducing human exposure risk.
Supernova is not alone in pursuing additive energetics; firms like Firehawk, Ursa Major, and X-Bow Systems are also active, but Nagabandi is unfazed. “Our competition isn’t really additive manufacturing companies. It’s legacy systems.” Most traditional energetics are still manufactured via casting or extrusion, relying on processes developed in the mid-20th century.
CL-20, or Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane, is a prime example. Its potency is unmatched, but its instability makes it notoriously dangerous to process. “There is a running theory that CL-20 might be more compatible with additive,” Nagabandi notes, “because it could be less hands-on: monitor remotely, walk away, lower exposure risk.”
The US Department of Defense shares this vision. Through the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC), Supernova has secured $2 million via the American Center for Manufacturing & Innovation (ACMI) to demonstrate prototype viability. “We’re nearing the end of that program now,” says Nagabandi. “I can’t say much yet, but both ACMI and DIBC are quite happy with the results so far.”
While the commercial use of additive in military maintenance has grown, especially in the Air Force, the path to 3D printing energetic components remains difficult. The challenge lies not only in material formulation but in regulatory inertia. “Northrop has been qualifying one system for 10 years and in production for 30,” Nagabandi says. “Why should they trust this?”
Nonetheless, the Department of Defense appears receptive. “Army, Navy, Air Force, they all say: ‘This is something we’ve been trying to do in our own labs. This looks like it might actually work.”
Supernova is now focusing on narrowing its application portfolio. “We could process five different energetic materials today, but we won’t hand the machine to someone and say, ‘Figure it out,’” says Nagabandi. “Over the next 18–24 months, we want to perfect two applications.”
Long term, he envisions fully automated additive production lines rivaling China’s CNC-based factories. “You go in and see these 100,000 sq ft halls where you feed in raw blocks and out come finished parts, fully automated, lights-out. I want AM to get there.”
For now, Supernova is betting that additive’s ability to unlock geometry in high-energy materials will offer performance gains where re-engineering entire platforms isn’t viable. As Nagabandi puts it, “We’re not changing the rocket. We’re changing what burns inside it.”
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Featured image shows the Supernova Defense & Space logo. Image via Supernova Defense & Space.
