Brisbane rocket company Gilmour Space Technologies has announced a partnership with Victorian industrial scale additive manufacturing firm Titomic Limited.

The two companies have a signed a Statement of Strategic Intent, under which they intend to explore the use of 3D-printed materials in the production of rocket components and materials for spacecraft.

Gilmour Space became one of the first entities in the world to launch a rocket using 3D-printed fuel in 2016, and has recently been testing its One Vision rocket and mobile launch facility.

“Gilmour Space is developing new launch vehicles to support today’s global small satellite market, and this partnership could see us leveraging on Titomic’s innovative manufacturing processes to produce lighter and stronger components for our orbital launch vehicles,” said the company’s co-founder and chief operating officer, James Gilmour.

The announcement comes after the federal government announced $150 million in funding for Australian-developed space materials to support NASA’s future lunar and Mars missions.

Titomic’s chief technology officer, Nathanael Miller, said of the new partnership:

“I am excited to get started on our joint tech-development program. Between the Gilmour Space focus on launch economics and the scale and quality performance of Titomic Kinetic Fusion capabilities, I am expecting significant implications for the launch vehicle community.”

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