US-based Vitesse Systems has completed the expansion of its additive manufacturing capabilities and announced the delivery of one of the largest 3D printed satellite antennas to date. The antenna was designed, manufactured and tested at the development site in Longmont, Colorado, and will be used in a new satellite constellation. By expanding production capacity with two additional manufacturing facilities, Vitesse says it is responding to the growing demand for flexible, weight-optimized antenna solutions for space and defense applications.
Richie Dart, General Manager, explained: “We recently delivered our most complex space hardware to date. The antenna comprised 1,600 individual additive RF components. We were approached by our customer in 2022, who sought an antenna partner to support their satellite technology roadmap. By collaborating with our customers from the concept stage, we were able to leverage our space heritage and combine it with the benefits of additive manufacturing. This allowed us to reduce the overall size and mass of the antenna by 30%, optimize RF performance, and deliver the antenna in less than two years. Additive manufacturing builds the antenna layer by layer, which allows us to eliminate internal features that are only there for structural reasons. This not only improves RF performance but also reduces the mass and overall size of the antenna — a fundamental shift for satellite applications, allowing our customers to utilize available space and mass for other purposes.
For ground-based antennas, we have combined additive manufacturing with our existing antenna manufacturing processes. This allows us to design more capability into a single antenna, enabling our customers to communicate with airborne and space-based assets across a broad range of frequencies and orbits. Furthermore, our customers require solutions within increasingly shorter timeframes, often weeks, not months. Our additive capability, combined with our RF expertise and in-house testing capabilities, allows us to exceed our customer expectations.”
Since the first installation of an additive manufacturing system in 2021, the company has been pursuing a design-driven approach in which 3D printing is seen not just as a manufacturing technology, but as an integral part of product development.
Matthew Alty, CEO, added: “Expanding our additive manufacturing capacity is part of a broader investment strategy to meet the growing demand for high-performance antennas. Over the past few years, we have expanded our engineering, manufacturing, and test capabilities as the government has fundamentally changed how military programs are procured. Development timelines have been compressed, and performance requirements have increased as the connected battlefield has become a reality and the number of satellites and interconnected platforms has increased significantly. In response, we have had to rethink how we design, manufacture, and test our antennas. Additive manufacturing, combined with our in-house design and testing capability, allows us to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes from design concept to reality.”
The combination of additive manufacturing, in-house development and test procedures is intended to significantly shorten the time from design to deployment – a crucial aspect in the current environment of fast-moving space and defense programs.
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