When the QL-1 rocket engine recently passed a 200-second hot-fire test, it demonstrated not only solid propulsion performance but also a paradigm shift in rocket manufacturing. Engineers at Space Circling Aerospace Technology in Xi’an, China, leveraged metal 3D printing to fabricate over 20 critical components, from thrust chambers and turbopumps to valves and other internal flow parts, tells this article from Develop 3D Magazine.
Rather than using traditional fabrication techniques, which require multiple machining and assembly steps, the team turned to additive manufacturing (AM) via systems from Bright Laser Technologies (BLT). Their 3D-printed parts include complex internal fluid channels that would be nearly impossible to build conventionally. This streamlined manufacturing not only simplifies geometry but also improves thermal efficiency and structural integrity, thanks to reduced welds and joints.
One impressive example: a 340 × 340 × 55 mm two-stage impeller (part of the turbopump) that, if produced traditionally, would take over three months to complete. Using BLT’s metal-AM process, it was finalized in just 45 days, slashing production time by nearly 75%. This speed lets engineers iterate design and testing cycles faster, accelerating the engine’s path from concept to hot-fire testing.
Because the 3D printing route reduces part count, simplifies assembly, and enables complex fluidic/thermal geometries, Space Circling now has a credible foundation for future ambitions, including potentially reusable launchers built around QL-1 engines.
For mechanical engineering and manufacturing communities, QL-1’s development underlines how metal additive manufacturing is no longer a prototyping novelty. It’s emerging as a core industrial method, especially for high-performance, heat-intensive, and geometry-complex systems such as rocket engines.