In the highly regulated context of the space industry, every gram matters, every production hour is precious, and every component must deliver flawless performance under extreme conditions. Roboze positions itself as a strategic partner for aerospace companies and government contractors, offering additive manufacturing solutions designed to overcome the sector’s key pain points: mass, cycle times, material qualification, and structural reliability.

Mass Reduction and Payload Optimization

Using advanced materials such as Carbon PEEK can cut a component’s mass by up to 60 % compared with traditional metal alloys, without compromising mechanical or thermal performance. This dramatic weight saving increases spacecraft payload capacity, maximizes mission efficiency, and reduces launch costs.

Carbon PEEK (carbon-fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone) is a high-performance semicrystalline polymer with a density of approximately 1.4 g/cm³, well below that of aluminum alloys (2.7 g/cm³) or titanium (4.5 g/cm³). Thanks to its carbon-fiber–reinforced thermoplastic matrix, it offers an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, thermal stability up to 280 °C, and excellent resistance to ionizing radiation.

In an industry where every extra kilogram aboard a launch vehicle to low Earth orbit (LEO) costs an average of USD 1,500/kg in launch fees, reducing a component’s weight by 60% compared to its metal equivalent can translate into tens of thousands of dollars in launch cost savings alone. Moreover, while traditional machining discards up to 40 % of the raw material, additive manufacturing with Carbon PEEK generates virtually zero waste, further cutting material costs and production time.

This mass optimization not only maximizes payload capacity, allowing for additional scientific instruments, communications systems, or extra propellant, but also lowers direct launch expenses and accelerates pre-flight preparation schedules.

Compressed Development and Production Times

The Roboze solution drastically shortens the time-to-flight for space components. Its build chamber, heated up to 180 °C, not only maintains the optimal deposition environment but is also programmed to perform the annealing phase autonomously during controlled cooldown: upon print completion, the machine gradually lowers its temperature following a predefined profile that relieves residual stresses and crystallizes the material without any external intervention.

Support removal is simplified to a quick manual detachment or, if needed, a brief finishing pass using conventional machining. Thanks to these features, a component can go from CAD file to test-ready part in under 7 days—compared to the 4–6 weeks typically required by traditional processes.

To complete the workflow, our platform integrates:

• Real-time monitoring of print parameters and thermal profile, ensuring batch-to-batch repeatability even across different production sites;

• Roboze SlizeR, an advanced slicing engine built on a proprietary database of data gathered from years of high-performance materials additive-manufacturing experience. The result is “ready-to-go” G-code with no manual tuning required;

• Predictive machine maintenance, with automatic alerts based on usage-data learning, to ensure maximum uptime.

This approach eliminates supply-chain bottlenecks, enables on-demand roll-out of highly technical parts at decentralized facilities, and multiplies design iterations, swiftly propelling prototypes and pre-series into orbit.

Material Qualification and Performance

Additive manufacturing for space applications requires materials capable of meeting the stringent outgassing regulations imposed by ESA and NASA. The key parameters are:

• TML (Total Mass Loss): total mass loss due to evaporation

• RML (Recovered Mass Loss): the net mass loss attributed to material evaporation, excluding water content.

• CVCM (Collected Volatile Condensable Materials): fraction of condensable compounds that can deposit on cold surfaces

According to NASA limits, a material is considered compliant if TML ≤ 1.0% and CVCM ≤ 0.1%. In tests conducted in accordance with the ASTM E595 standard, adopted by ESA and widely used across the aerospace sector, Roboze Carbon PEEK demonstrated outstanding performance.

To explore the experimental setup, results by print orientation, and a direct comparison with NASA thresholds, download Roboze’s technical white paper on Carbon PEEK. There, you’ll find a detailed review of the methodology, data, and implications for contamination-controlled environments.

Geometric Freedom and Functional Integration

One of the most revolutionary advantages of additive manufacturing is the ability to create geometries impossible to achieve with subtractive techniques. In the space sector, this freedom translates into multiple functions within a single component body, eliminating joints, mechanical fittings, and external tubing that can be potential failure or contamination points.

This functional integration is not merely an exercise in aesthetic design: every reduction in mechanical interfaces means qualifying a single material instead of multiple joints with different tolerances, simplifying documentation for NASA and ECSS certification processes. In an environment where traceability of every material batch, from print to flight, is mandatory for mission safety, consolidating functions into a single printed body means faster compliance, clearer chains of custody, and, ultimately, more reliable spacecraft.

Why Choose Roboze

Roboze doesn’t just offer a 3D printer: it provides an integrated platform of materials, hardware, and engineering services to meet the demands of the most exacting space applications. From material qualification to on-demand production, we deliver a certifiable, scalable workflow that reduces risk and accelerates your go-to-space timeline.

Request a feasibility assessment today: contact our engineering team to validate the mechanical and thermal properties of Carbon PEEK on your critical component, and discover how to seamlessly integrate Roboze additive manufacturing into your spaceflight workflow.

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1 Source: McKinsey & Company, The future of space launch costs, 2023