From Newcastle to Jupiter

Finished Fuel Tank Dome

From Newcastle to Jupiter

Major news for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus as the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft has officially launched from the spaceport in French Guiana on the Ariane 5 rocket. The successful launch occurred on April 14th.

Spincraft is thrilled to play a part in deep space exploration via our advanced metal forming solutions. The Spincraft UK facility produced domes used to manufacture JUICE’s propellant tank, one of the largest titanium tanks ever built for satellite propulsion systems. Spincraft work entailed the forming, pre-machining and heat treatment of tank domes that were used in both pre-launch ground testing as well as for flight hardware.

JUICE program metal being formed into a fuel tank
Spincraft Dome Forming
Spincraft UK metal forming

JUICE is embarking on an eight-year journey that will arrive at Jupiter in 2031. The mission will observe Jupiter and its largest icy moons: Callisto, Europa and Ganymede. The goal is to monitor, experiment and determine if these environments have conditions that can harbor life.

The JUICE vehicle will travel from Earth to Venus where it will pick up a gravity boost. From there it will make various fly-by passes to Earth as it picks up speed from gravity and moves out from the inner solar system, aided by momentum, on its 500-million-mile journey to Jupiter. It will use the Jovian gravity field to decelerate at the other end. The fuel tank is for smaller maneuvers rather than providing for the main thrust to get to Jupiter.

Spincraft UK JUICE Dome
Finished Fuel Tank Dome

Spincraft is looking forward to following the progress JUICE makes along its journey. Learn more about our capabilities and space systems solutions by clicking Here. Please reach out to our team to discuss how we can solve your most critical metal forming challenges.

Spincraft Receives Airbus D2P Supplier Award

Airbus Award for Spincraft

Spincraft Receives Airbus D2P Supplier Award

Airbus Award for Spincraft

Spincraft, a Standex Engineering Technologies Group company, is pleased to announce that we were recently recognized at the annual Airbus Detail Parts Partner Conference and Awards (D2P) held on March 14th in France.

Spincraft received an award under the Specialist category for strong contributions and superior performance over the last year, specifically great collaboration, delivery and performance by the Spincraft WI team on A320neo lipskins and the Spincraft UK site’s proactive approach to developing prototype hardware solutions for the ZEROe initiative.

This award is a direct result of Spincraft’s proven track record of sustaining operational reliability, delivering on our commitments, cultivating customer intimacy and supplying cost-effective advanced metal forming solutions.

A big congratulations to our global Spincraft team for making this possible. Contact us to discuss how we can support your manufacturing challenges.

Richard J. Morganti Scholarship Recipient

Richard Morganti Scholarship Recipient

Richard J. Morganti Scholarship Recipient 

Standex ETG is delighted to announce Dylan Ward as the recipient of the Richard J. Morganti ’82 Scholarship for the 2022-2023 academic year. Dylan is a freshman from Marshfield, Massachusetts majoring in Marine Engineering at Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA), Rich’s alma mater.

Here is what Dylan had to say about his recent experience this winter completing his first Sea Term:

Richard Morganti Scholarship Recipient

Sea Term definitely lived up to my expectations. I experienced things that I never had before because I have rarely left home. The ports we went to were exotic and beautiful. The days I spent on them were some of the greatest I’ve ever had. Sea Term was definitely harder than I expected. The schedule was constantly changing so you wouldn’t get much sleep. Every day you had a job, sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes outside in the heat in the middle of the day. Living conditions were rough, as I slept in a hold with sixty other cadets my age. It did not smell good. We went through rough seas and worked tough jobs, but it was all worth it in the end. I did things that I never would have had the opportunity to do if I never came to Massachusetts Maritime Academy, like ride a jet ski and swim through a coral reef. The school is not easy and neither was Sea Term, but it has all been worth it so far. I enjoyed working on the ship and will continue learning more about Marine Engineering, so I can hopefully make a living on a ship when I graduate.

Congratulations to Dylan on his accomplishments and we wish him the best of luck with his academic journey! This scholarship was established in honor of ETG employee Rich Morganti, who graduated with the class of ’82. We are pleased to contribute in Rich’s memory to a worthy young man that is excited about his pursuits at MMA.