Historic Test of Largest Additively
Manufactured Motor to Date
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- X-Bow Systems Inc. (pronounced
"/crossbow/"), the nation's leading non-traditional advanced
supplier of solid rocket motors (SRMs) and defense technologies,
announces the successful static test of the Ballesta-34 solid
rocket motor, nicknamed the XB-32. At ~34 inches in diameter,
X-Bow's XB-32 is the world's largest advanced manufactured solid
propellant motor fired to date with its patented manufacturing
technology. This groundbreaking achievement not only marks a
significant technological milestone in X-Bow's Advanced
Manufactured Solid Propellant (AMSP) process, but also represents a
significant step forward in the industry's use of additive and
advanced manufacturing for both strategic and tactical sized
propulsion systems.
The successful static fire validates the scaling feature of
AMSP. X-Bow has previously manufactured and tested hundreds of
smaller tactical sized motors. The XB-32 is part of the larger
Ballesta family of Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs), a modular motor
platform designed for use as both first stage and second-stage
boosters in government and commercial launch systems. X-Bow now
joins the likes of Northrop Grumman and L3 Harris as the only other
U.S. companies producing strategic class solid rocket motors. X-Bow
is the only company to use and test fire a strategic class SRM with
a revolutionary affordable advanced manufacturing system.
"The success of this test is a monumental milestone for X-Bow
that validates the viability of our advanced manufacturing
technology as it has now scaled from 2 inch diameter to 30 inch
plus diameter, proving the applicability of X-Bow's
industry-changing process to meet a rapidly growing SRM demand,"
said Jill Marsh, X-Bow VP of
Advanced Manufacturing and Operations.
To quote Chief Engineer Matthew Hinton, "X-Bow's AMSP
technology offers significant advantages in throughput, safety,
efficiency, and production cost over traditional propellant
manufacturing methods. It is an extremely versatile, customizable,
and scalable method of producing solid rocket motor
propellant."
The results yielded from the test align within the predicted
margin of error with X-Bow's models, verifying the accuracy and
predictability of its AMSP manufactured motors. With these results,
X-Bow is now rapidly moving to its planned flight demonstration of
the AMSP technology in the coming months. The propellant grain for
this ground-breaking test fire was produced in X-Bow's New Mexico
Tech University hosted R&D facilities in Socorro, New Mexico. This test also
marked the 150th energetics test at X-Bow's Luling Texas SRM
giga-campus.
ABOUT X-BOW SYSTEMS
X-Bow Systems is disrupting the
aerospace industry with innovative and cost-effective additively
manufactured energetics for the solid rocket motor and launch
vehicle market. X-Bow is also designing and building a suite of
modular solid rocket motors and small launch vehicles for both
orbital and suborbital launch services. X-Bow is led by CEO
Jason Hundley, Chairman Mark Kaufman, CTO Max
Vozoff, CRO Maureen Gannon, General Counsel John Leary and a growing team of seasoned
industry veterans and new space entrepreneurs. Headquartered in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, X-Bow has
additional presence in California,
Alabama, Colorado, Utah, Texas,
Maryland and Washington, DC. X-Bow is actively recruiting
talented and determined individuals to join its team. For more
information, visit www.xbowsystems.com
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SOURCE X-Bow Launch Systems Inc.