Spincraft: Leading Space Supplier with Advanced Forming Capabilities

Crew Capsule

Spincraft: Leading Space Supplier with Advanced Forming Capabilities

Space Launch Vehicle & Structures

The rapid commercialization of space and recommitment to exploration are fueling innovation across the space launch vehicle and structures sectors. New products and complex designs require clever manufacturing approaches to minimize input weight and provide the most cost-effective solutions. Spincraft’s capabilities and experience offer the perfect combination to support these industry demands and technical requirements.

Our Spincraft facilities operate some of the world’s largest spin forming equipment. This allows us to provide complex geometries in thick-walled cross sections from all formable metallic alloys that are critical to meet aerospace requirements.

Spincraft Sump
Crew Capsule

Various aerospace applications benefit from Spincraft’s unique forming capabilities. Spincraft has provided the industry with considerable variations and sizes of fan shrouds and tank sumps for over 26 years.

Spincraft’s distinctive abilities allow our customers to design parts with complex features that significantly optimize part mass and aid downstream manufacturing and assemblies. The curved geometry of these parts is readily formable in heavy thick-walled sections giving Spincraft a leading edge in meeting specialized customer demands for high precision and low-mass components. These are essential specifications necessary to deliver crew and cargo to orbit and beyond.

Some examples of Spincraft’s aerospace hardware credentials include: 

  • Precision attachment locations for flow direction vanes
  • Propellent management devices (PMD) such as anti-vortex baffles and drain ports
  • Airlocks & Docking Adaptors
  • Crew habitation module components 

Spincraft is a trusted partner in support of next-generation launch and space flight vehicle development with over a quarter-century of experience as one of the most critical solutions suppliers to the space sector. With leading-edge forming processes, Spincraft stands poised to facilitate and shape the next decade of space exploration and commercialization via our close collaborations with current and new partners. We invite you to connect and discuss how Spincraft can collaborate with you to solve your critical metal forming challenges with cost-effective solutions that will eliminate welds and reduce input weight.

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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.

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Satellite propellant tank solution highlights Spincraft capabilities in European Space

Spincraft UK metal formed solution for space

Satellite propellant tank solution highlights Spincraft capabilities in European Space

The European space sector is experiencing a period of tremendous investment, growth and innovation. Spincraft UK, a Standex Engineering Technologies Group (ETG) company, has emerged as a valued supply chain partner to spacecraft manufacturers and Tier 1s in Europe. We have the advanced metal forming capabilities, processes, experience and certifications to deliver reliable, cost-effective solutions. 

Core in-house capabilities at Spincraft UK include Spinning, Shear forming, Press forming, Machining and Fabrication. We also possess a robust supply chain with Heat Treat and other specialty services.

Spincraft UK Metal Formed Satelllite Tank

Prototype Tank Design

Recently we had the opportunity to assist a significant European satellite OEM on a project to manufacture the prototype propellant tank for their next-generation spacecraft. With the landscape of satellite tanks shifting to demisable aluminum structures that disintegrate upon re-entry into the atmosphere, our partner sought potential alternatives to their existing supply chain. Although this customer had a strong background in tank design, Spincraft was able to secure the work due to our industry and material experience, prototyping collaboration and convenient UK location. This project demonstrated Spincraft’s leading capabilities to this customer. It also served as a great learning experience for our team due to the challenging problem-solving required.

Keeping within cost constraints was critical for the customer. Knowing budget overruns were unacceptable, our team identified and executed part design modifications taking cost out while still producing a conforming unit. Customer collaboration and intimacy like this set the Spincraft team apart. 

Putting our Global Expertise to Work

Though this was not a large tank, roughly only 1.5ft (0.5m) in diameter, aluminum construction was not typical as the UK site usually handled domes of more exotic materials including titanium and nickel-based superalloys. To execute the project most efficiently we leveraged our European dome pedigree with engineering expertise across ETG. Cross-site pollination devised the best method of manufacturing and custom tooling design to deliver required tolerances within cost parameters.

Spincraft first tapped its supply chain partners to obtain the desired pre-machined round preform. We then got to work performing the precision machining and generation of the prototype’s final parts. Visual storyboarding was a vital element in the machining sequence to the required contours. This visual aid offered a guide to outline the many steps needed to put together the completed fixture. Once both the upper and lower domes were machine-finished, Spincraft performed assembly fit-up checks to confirm that the weld interface region between the parts was suitable for downstream assembly in a cleanroom environment.

Close up Spincraft UK Satellite Dome

The Spincraft UK team faced a customer challenge with a non-typical material for the planned application, requiring absolute quality, cost control and precision. We used customer intimacy, cross-site collaboration and domestic production capabilities to successfully deliver this prototype to the customer within budget.  

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The Spincraft team is a proven solutions provider in the European space market. Reach out to discuss how we can collaborate and support your metal forming needs. 

Standex ETG Contributes Hardware to the Artemis Program

NASA’s Space Launch System

Standex ETG Contributes Hardware to the Artemis Program

Now is an exciting time to be connected and involved with the space market as the Boeing Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Lockheed Orion Spacecraft are back on the launch pad in preparation for the Artemis I Mission. November 16th is the scheduled launch date for this mission to make strides to bring human life back to the moon. 

The Artemis I mission is the first flight for the SLS rocket and has a total mission duration of 42 days. During this launch, the Orion crew capsule will fly around the moon before reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. This mission will act as a dry run for Artemis II, the first crewed mission for NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

Credit: NASA

Spincraft Metal Formed Dome on Orion

Credit: NASA

Showcasing Our Hardware

Artemis SLS Rocket Diagram

Standex Engineering Technologies Group (ETG) and the Spincraft team supplied numerous hardware components on this NASA rocket. Our Spincraft MA site produced the aft bulkhead for the Orion crew capsule, the SLS rocket core stage aft manifold, as well as multiple fuel tank domes. The domes we manufactured for United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta IV rocket were repurposed for the upper stage and we also manufactured the LOX and LH2 dome caps for the core stage. The Spincraft UK site supported this mission as well, forming a separator cone found in the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).

To learn more about ETG’s capabilities and solutions for the space sector, Click Here. We invite you connect with us and learn about how we can solve your most critical metal forming challenges with cost-effective solutions that will eliminate welds and reduce input weight.

Spincraft Completes Last Dome for Delta IV

97: First Delta IV Rocket Fuel Tank Dome Delivered
2021: Final Delta IV Rocket Fuel Tank Dome and the Spincraft Team
2021: Final Delta IV Dome and the Spincraft Team

October marked a momentous occasion for Standex Engineering Technologies Group (Standex ETG) as our Spincraft Massachusetts facility spun its final fuel tank dome in support of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta IV rocket program after almost 25 years of close partnership.

 

For more than 20 years, our Spincraft MA facility has supplied continuous production on domes for ULA’s Delta IV rockets. Before becoming a part of ULA’s product line in 2006, the Delta IV rocket was designed for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program by Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security division. Delta IV has served a vital role in providing lift capabilities for high priority U.S. Space Force, National Reconnaissance Office and NASA payloads.

 

Spincraft’s capabilities significantly benefited the Delta IV program by increasing performance while reducing the part count and complexity of the overall vehicle. Previously, the technology initially utilized for making these domes was gore panels. Spincraft’s spinning technology and process expertise allowed Boeing to produce a 5-meter dome out of a single piece of aluminum, eliminating the need for welds, reducing many hours of costly assembly time and reducing the overall weight of the part.

 

97: First Delta IV Rocket Fuel Tank Dome Delivered
1997: First Delta IV Dome Delivered

Spincraft successfully delivered the first Delta IV dome to Boeing in 1997. The first launch occurred in November of 2002. Since then, our team has continued to support ULA’s mission by supplying a total of 415 domes. These domes were an integral part of 41 Delta IV launches to date, including vital military, communications and weather satellites; the Orion Exploration Flight Test; and Parker Space Probe. The last Delta IV flight is scheduled to launch in 2024. 

 

As Delta IV production phases out, Spincraft has already pivoted to supporting early production volumes of Vulcan Centaur, ULA’s next-generation launch vehicle designed for higher performance and greater affordability slated for inaugural flight in 2022.

 

Over the last quarter-century, Spincraft has grown to become one of the most critical solutions suppliers to the space launch vehicle and space exploration markets. Our leading-edge forming processes and capabilities have made us a globally trusted partner for leading public and private companies, providing unsurpassed service and performance. 

Blue Origin: Proud Supplier 

Team Spincraft holding the Blue Origin Proud Supplier Flag

On September 15th, employees of Blue Origin made a site visit to Spincraft’s Massachusetts facility to recognize the team’s successful contributions to New Shepard and the program’s first human flight.

During their visit, Blue Origin shared video footage from their historic July 20 launch — a milestone moment for the future of spaceflight, the Blue Origin team and their first astronaut crew. The first private citizen passenger crew onboard consisted of Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen.

Additional milestones include:

  • Jeff and Mark Bezos: the first siblings to go to space together.
  • Wally Funk: the oldest person to fly in space (age 82).
  • Oliver Daemen: the youngest person to travel to space (age 18) and the first person to purchase a ticket to space commercially.
  • New Shepard: the first commercial vehicle to fly paying customers to and from space.

The Blue Origin team expressed their gratitude for the fuel tank domes that Spincraft provided to make New Shepard’s mission triumphant. Providing these precisely manufactured parts helped ensure confidence among the first human flight travelers as they set foot onboard the rocket to make history. Blue Origin presented Spincraft with a banner to proudly convey our status as a Blue Origin supplier.

Spincraft and Standex Engineering Technologies Group are honored to have collaborated on and delivered yet another successful space systems solution to our customer, and to have been a key manufacturing partner to crewed space flight for more than three decades.

Team Spincraft holding the Blue Origin Proud Supplier Flag

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Capsule: Spincraft-supplied bulkhead domes

Boeing and NASA continue their drive to send US Astronauts to space. Fox News toured Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral to see firsthand the impressive CST-100 Starliner Capsule. Link to Fox release: Fox Business

Boeing is planning a September 2019 launch of an empty capsule, with a crewed launch targeted by the end of 2019. This will be first mission launching Astronauts to the International Space Station from US soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011
The crew capsule structure (forward and aft bulkhead domes) are manufactured by Spincraft’s North Billerica MA facility. The capsule will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas IV rocket. Spincraft supplies domes to several ULA Space programs; each Atlas IV uses 4 fuel tank domes also manufactured in the MA plant.

T. KENT PUGMIRE, RECIPIENT OF 2018 WYLD ROCKET PROPULSION AWARD

T. Kent Pugmire , Standex ETG Technical Representative, was recognized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) as ‘Rocket Scientist’ of the Year with his selection to receive the prestigious 2018 Wyld (Rocket) Propulsion Award.

The annual award honors ‘outstanding achievement in the development or application of rocket propulsion systems’ and is named after James Hart Wyld. Pugmire received the award on July 11, 2018 at the AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum in Cincinnati, Ohio. The award citation reads: “For pioneering contributions to the design and development in-space propulsion systems including the creation of electro-thermal ammonia/hydrazine propulsion systems used in hundreds of spacecraft.”

The first spacecraft, Sputnik 1 (Dec 1959) and Explorer 1 (Jan 1960) were placed in elliptical orbits with very limited life. Neither had in-space propulsion to control or change position. This quickly led to the development for in-space propulsion. Initially this was accomplished with containers of pressurized nitrogen or helium which had short life and low propulsive efficiency. Within 10 years liquid fueled propulsion was implemented on small, limited mass spacecraft which had only a few watts electric power for communication and instruments.

During this period, Kent Pugmire was developing very low thrust (~.000,001 pounds thrust) liquid fueled ammonia electro-thermal propulsion systems for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. These developments provided the first spacecraft based, operational Global Positioning System (GPS). Some ten years later Kent’s developments produced the first operational electric (several kilowatts power) propulsion spacecraft. Use of this electric propulsion extended operational life of communication, weather, DOD spacecraft about 35% over the standard chemical engines in use at that time. Some applications are continuing today (1980s – 2018).

“Another prestigious honor for a longtime friend and colleague,” said Standex ETG’s Rich Morganti, VP Advanced Engineering & Technology. “It is not surprising given Kent’s passion and dedication to the industry. For those of us who have had the opportunity and pleasure to work with Kent, we are very fortunate indeed.”

Pugmire has worked with Spincraft / Standex ETG for 20+ years as Technical Representative and Consultant to the Space Systems market. Members of the ETG team were on hand for the award, joining several of Pugmire’s family members and business associates.

Pugmire was previously recognized by AIAA, having been inducted to the AIAA Class of 2016 Fellows. AIAA Honorary Fellows and Fellows represent the best of the aerospace community. These individuals have advanced the state of the art of aerospace science and technology, making unique contributions to the profession.
AIAA is the largest aerospace professional society in the world, serving a diverse range of more than 30,000 individual members from 88 countries, and 95 corporate members.

Spincraft UK £1M Investment Expands Aviation and Space Capabilities

Newcastle-upon-Tyne GB: May-2017: Spincraft ETG, based in the heart of northeast England, recently received £1M funding from their parent company Standex. As a provider of metal-forming solutions, this funding will allow the manufacturing plant to further expand its capacity and breadth of services, especially within the Aviation and Space markets.

What makes the Newcastle-based Spincraft plant unique is their metal forming capabilities including CNC Spin Forming, Sheer forming and Pressing (using cold and hot forming). The substantial investment will permit the creation of a brand new aeronautics manufacturing cell, allowing the Newcastle plant to offer its customers full turn-key solutions in-house.
Mike Hutchinson, Spincraft’s Operation Director said:

“Matching our investment with our customer’s long term needs is crucial for the future of the Newcastle plant. Our highly committed and experienced teams are anxiously awaiting the new cell”
The initial stage of the investment includes the following processes within the vertically integrated cell:
• Vertical Turning • 5-Axis milling • CMM and Control Room • FPI Inspection • Laser Faro Scanners • Shadow Graph & Part Marking
Cell construction is well underway, and initial segments are expected online as early as summer 2017.
Catherine McKinnel, currently standing as candidate for Labour Member of Parliament for Newcastle North, recently visited Spincraft to learn more about the plant’s capabilities and future plans. McKinnel toured the Newburn facility and had the opportunity to meet with management and factory employees.
Catherine reported:
“It’s really exciting to know that world-leading technology developed and manufactured here in Newcastle is winging its way into space – but even more so to learn that we could be playing a leading role in this growing international industry in the years to come. I am looking forward to supporting Spincraft’s plans for the future.”
McKinnells full review of her Spincraft ETG visit can be found at
www.catherinemckinnellmp.co.uk
About Spincraft, Standex Engineering Technologies Group
SPINCRAFT and ENGINETICS form Standex’s Engineering Technologies Group (ETG). Six facilities across the US and UK provide global manufacturing solutions via collaborative engineering efforts. Precision metal forming technologies are supported by vertically integrated manufacturing processes. ETG solutions support Aviation, Defence and Space-System markets. For more information about Spincraft and Enginetics, visit www.standexetg.com
About Standex Standex International Corporation is a multi-industry manufacturer in five broad business segments: Food Service Equipment, Engineering Technologies, Engraving, Electronics, and Hydraulics with operations in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, South Africa, India and China. For additional information, visit the Company’s website at www.standex.com/