SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, will license 3D printing technology from Velo3D, a metal AM company based in California. Under the terms of the deal, Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) will pay five million dollars for Velo3D additive manufacturing technologies. Velo3D manufactures the Sapphire range of metal powder bed fusion 3D printing systems, with the non-contact recoater often touted as a key benefit that increases the likelihood of optimal builds.
The license is non-exclusive, allowing Velo3D to continue to provide metal 3D printing technology to other customers. This builds on previous contracts to supply SpaceX with 3D printers. SpaceX has used 3D printing in its Raptor engines, with Musk boasting the company has the “most advanced 3D metal printing technology”.
Velo3D systems are compatible with a number of advanced 3D printing materials, some of which have particular applications in the aerospace and space industries. For example, Copper GRCop-42 was developed by NASA and is increasingly used for rocket engine manufacture. Molybdenum alloys, such as the Hastelloy family, have corrosion resistance characteristics and can be used in high-temperature environments, sometimes up to 1200°C.
SpaceX now has over a decade’s worth of experience using 3D printing for rockets. For the burgeoning private space sector, additive manufacturing is a critical enabling technology. Enterprises such as ArianeGroup, Relativity Space, Launcher, Skyrora, KARI, Orienspace and NASA all use metal AM. As NASA’s Paul Gradl told 3D Printing Industry earlier this year, metal additive plays, “a huge role in rocket engine development and production now”.
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The SpaceX deal, announced 12th September, also includes three million dollars for “the provision of certain related engineering and other support services”. Under the terms of the contract, the funds received by Velo3D will be utilised in part to service a $23M debt incurred in November 2023.
Fallout from the SPAC boom
After receiving a noncompliance notice from the NYSE, Velo3D recently announced it would delist on that exchange and move to the OTCQX Best Market after remedies, including a stock split announced in June 2024, failed to address compliance with NYSE market cap requirements.
Velo3D’s NYSE appearance dates to the 3D printing SPAC boom of 2020/21, which saw many next-generation AM businesses seek an exchange listing. Ahead of the trend was Nano Dimension, who’s 2014 reverse merger, and subsequent financing, have left it with a substantial warchest.
Rationale for a listing can include prestige, access to capital, enrichment of early investors, motivation for founders, incentives and retention of key employees. Conversely, listed entries on major exchanges are faced with an additional compliance burden, both costs, time and competitive scrutiny. That is not to say scrutiny of financial results is undesirerable, however the question of whether quarterly calls with analysts who may have a vested interest in the form of potential or actual finance business is the most balanced way to achieve this.
Unwanted effects of listing include hitting “the number” or an expectation by analysts and investors of continual growth. Scholars of the noble science of double entry bookkeeping highlight the numerous ways to meet such forecasts, often at the detriment of long term prospects.
A transfer of company gains to speculators and the associated judgement of a companies core technology by the market is another questionable outcome. Arguably one of the most successful AM enterprises, EOS remains unlisted.
Perhaps SpaceX’s ongoing endorsement of Velo3D’s technology illustrates that financial engineering and actual engineering are best kept separate.
Velo3D made the shortlist for several 2023 3D Printing Industry Awards, including a heat exchanger for Launcher’s E-2 rocket engines. Make your nominations for the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards now!
Elon Musk says “It is not widely understood that SpaceX has the most advanced 3D metal printing technology in the world.” Make sure you stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news and subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter.
Featured image show Elon Musk speaking at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. Photo by Michael Petch.
