On Thursday, NASA officially tested its first-ever 3-D printed rocket engine injector. According to a press release issued by NASA,
A series of firings of a liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen rocket injector assembly demonstrated the ability to design, manufacture and test a highly critical rocket engine component using selective laser melting manufacturing technology. Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and fabricated the injector by a method that employs high-powered laser beams to melt and fuse fine metallic powders into three dimensional structures ... This type of injector manufactured with traditional processes would take more than a year to make but with these new processes it can be produced in less than four months, with a 70 percent reduction in cost[our emphasis, not NASAs].
The specs bode well as names like Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS), ExOne (Nasdaq: XONE), and 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) look to strike a stronger chord with consumers. Most consumer-level 3D printers run above $1,000 and are rather limited in the size and type of product that can be made, through everyone is familiar with the 3-D printed gun reported a few months back. Still, if NASA is touting the technology, its sure to be a hit with consumers eventually.
Just look at what the agency did for ice cream.
While 3D Sytems is up today, the others are modestly lower.