Press Releases

June 27, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock West Composites Delivers Panels for 500-Watt Arrays to Astro Digital for their Higher-Power Buses This month Rock West Composites delivered panels for Astro Digital’s new 500-Watt arrays to support higher power versions of Astro Digital’s Corvus buses. RWC built the sandwich panels from trace/lead integrated skins that allowed for direct integration with solar cells, saving weight and integration time for the customer.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) June 27, 2024 – Rock West Composites (RWC) announces the delivery this month of panels for Astro Digital’s new 500-Watt arrays to support higher power versions of their Corvus buses. RWC teamed with Astro Digital to fabricate solar array substrate (SAS) panels with a unique integrated design to save volume and weight. These panels are being integrated into space vehicles, the first of which is scheduled to launch in October.

RWC's SAS panels for Astro Digital's new 500-Watt arrays

These SAS panels are unique in that RWC built the sandwich panels from trace/lead integrated skins that allowed for direct integration with solar cells. This reduced total weight and shortened the integration time. The customer furnished the G10 (fiberglass) skins that already had the integrated copper traces. RWC used specialized tooling to align the face skins on the aluminum honeycomb core to keep the traces in the right location during fabrication of the approximately 2’ x 2’ structures.

Solar array panel detail - metallic inserts 

Jeremy Senne, Space Segment Director, said, “This is a great example of how we can help our customers solve their problems in innovative ways. It was a tooling and machining challenge to work with their pre-integrated skins, but our experience on other precision programs enabled successful fabrication.”

Completed solar array wings (Courtesy of Astro Digital)

About Rock West Composites

Rock West Composites is an employee-owned, advanced composites company. RWC develops, engineers, manufactures, and tests composite products for multiple industries including Space (bus structures; solar array panels and wings; launch vehicle structures; optical, payload and deployable structures), Aerospace & Defense (radomes, munitions, unmanned systems, reflectors), Aircraft (new and replacement parts) and Commercial Equipment (automation, medical, energy, and sporting). The company is also one of the largest ecommerce suppliers of off-the-shelf carbon fiber tubes, plates, materials, and accessories.

The company’s mission is to make customers more competitive with the magic of advanced composites by delivering highly differentiated products on time and on budget, all while making the buying process easy. Rock West Composites has locations in San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baja California, Mexico. www.rockwestcomposites.com

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For more information:
Julia Willis, Marketing Director
Phone: 858-537-6260
Email: marketing@1rockwest.com
Website: www.rockwestcomposites.com

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March 9, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock West Composites Delivers to Purdue University
the Barrel Timing Layer Tracker Support Tube for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider

This month Rock West Composites delivered a large, high-precision, carbon fiber and honeycomb core tube to Purdue University. The structure is the Barrel Timing Layer Tracker Support Tube that is part of an upgrade to CERN’s Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), which is a general-purpose detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) March 9, 2024 – Rock West Composites (RWC) announces the delivery of the Barrel Timing Layer (BTL) Tracker Support Tube to Purdue University this month. This large carbon fiber sandwich structure destined for CERN was designed by a joint team from Purdue University, led by Dr. Andy Jung and Dr. Ben Denos, and RWC, led by John Marks. The collaborative effort met key performance parameters using the most cost-effective design. The hardware RWC delivered will be integrated with instrumentation from Purdue prior to delivery to CERN.

CERN is the world’s leading laboratory for particle physics located near Geneva, Switzerland. The carbon fiber tube supports the heart of the upgraded CMS detector, a “camera” with more than a billion pixels to record proton-proton collisions at the highest ever-made energies and unprecedented resolution. In a few years, once fully commissioned, the upgraded CMS detector is expected to collect 10 times the data recorded so far in the hunt for new particles and aims to understand the origins of the Universe.

 

BLOG_Hardware in Manufacture and Inspection copy
Tube under manufacture and inspection

The BTL Tracker Support Tube had to be manufactured from materials with extremely low radiation resistance, have a precise circular cylinder structure, be very strong and stiff, and meet an accelerated delivery schedule. Because the final tube had such challenging requirements, traditional tooling or manufacturing approaches would have been unaffordable. Innovative techniques were used, starting with the manufacture of curved, solid laminate arc segments rather than a full cylinder. Precision machined arc segment stiffeners help hold the arcs to strict dimensions once assembled. Low coefficients of thermal expansion are maintained in all 3 directions: radially, circumferentially, and along the length of the tube.

 

Completed hardware with the tooling used for manufacture

Completed hardware with the tooling used for manufacture

Prior to making the full-scale tube, RWC built a full diameter but much shorter version of the part as a technology demonstrator. RWC was presented with an Industry Gold Award from CERN in 2022 for this effort, and ultimately won the program from Purdue for the full-size hardware due to the success of the demonstration model and its affordability.

The delivered hardware is 5.3-meters long by 2.4-meters in diameter. It is constructed of ultra-high-modulus prepreg and Nomex honeycomb core made with PMT-F6 cyanate ester resin. There are 1680 metallic inserts made of solid carbon epoxy, titanium and stainless steel; and it includes two 110 MSI carbon fiber (K13916/ F6) rails to support scientific instruments. Surface accuracy requirements were tested to 2.4mm cylindricity inhouse before shipment.

 

Images show details of the interior of the tube with hundreds of inserts and railing system

Images show details of the interior of the tube with hundreds of inserts and railing system

John Marks, VP of Product Development, said, “We were excited to take on this challenging program and to know that we will be contributing to the advancement of humanity’s understanding the fundamental construct of matter. Our work on the demonstration model and final hardware pushed our team’s technical skills to the limit, and we couldn’t be prouder of their performance on this program.”

 

The Rock West team posing in front of the completed hardware the day before it was shipped

The Rock West team posing in front of the completed hardware the day before it was shipped

About Rock West Composites

Rock West Composites is an employee-owned, advanced composites company. RWC develops, engineers, manufactures, and tests composite products for multiple industries including Aerospace & Defense (radomes, aircraft, and weapon components), Space (bus structures, solar array panels and wings, strut assemblies, launch vehicle structures), and Commercial Equipment (industrial, medical, energy, and sporting). The company is also one of the largest ecommerce suppliers of off-the-shelf carbon fiber tubes, plates, materials, and accessories.

The company’s vision is to “make the magic of composite technologies accessible to the world” by executing flawlessly and providing customers a competitive advantage, all while making it easy to buy. Rock West Composites has locations in San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baja California, Mexico.
www.rockwestcomposites.com

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For more information: 

Julia Willis, Marketing Director
Phone: 858-537-6260
Email: marketing@1rockwest.com
Website: www.rockwestcomposites.com

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February 21, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock West Composites’ Components Are on Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 Mission to the Moon

Supporting the commercial space race to the Moon, Rock West Composites is proud to have provided multiple configurations of struts to Intuitive Machines for incorporation into its Nova-C lunar lander named Odysseus, which launched last week. The struts met challenging surface profile and straightness requirements for both interior and exterior dimensions, were integrated with bonded fittings, and were pull-tested in-house before delivery.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) February 21, 2023 – Rock West Composites (RWC) provided hardware to Intuitive Machines for incorporation into its recently launched Nova-C lunar lander, Odysseus. Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 Mission is sending its lander to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign. RWC delivered multiple configurations of machined and tested struts with bonded fittings. The struts included both circular cross-section tubes with and without bonded titanium fittings, and rectangular tubes with a tooled surface on both the inside and outside face.

IM-1 Lunar Lander Odysseus with RWC Struts and Assemblies (Odysseus images courtesy Intuitive Machines – Nick Rios)

 

IM-1 Lunar Lander Odysseus with RWC Struts and Assemblies (Odysseus images courtesy Intuitive Machines – Nick Rios)

The RWC-provided struts were primarily constructed of HM63/PMT-F6 unidirectional prepreg with 0.010” and tighter surface profile and straightness requirements. The rectangular tubes were especially challenging due to the tooled surface requirement on both the interior and exterior with a tight surface profile requirement on both sides to allow for next-level assembly tolerances. The hardware was build-to-print, but RWC provided input on the final design for manufacturability and requirements compliance. The struts with bonded fittings were pull-tested in-house at RWC prior to final integration at Intuitive Machines.

 

RWC Strut Assemblies

“We are honored to support our commercial customers in this race to the Moon and ultimately a sustained human presence there,” said Jeremy Senne, RWC’s Space Segment Director. “Our precision composite components can give our customers the performance they need to succeed in this high-risk and clearly challenging business.”

For more information on this mission: https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1

About Rock West Composites

Rock West Composites is an employee-owned, advanced composites company. RWC develops, engineers, manufactures, and tests composite products for multiple industries including Space (bus structures, solar array panels and wings, strut assemblies, launch vehicle structures), Aerospace & Defense (radomes, aircraft, and weapon components) and Commercial Equipment (industrial, medical, energy, and sporting). The company is also one of the largest ecommerce suppliers of off-the-shelf carbon fiber tubes, plates, materials, and accessories.

The company’s vision is to “make the magic of composite technologies accessible to the world” by executing flawlessly and providing customers a competitive advantage, all while making it easy to buy. Rock West Composites has locations in San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baja California, Mexico.
www.rockwestcomposites.com

About Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines is a diversified space company focused on space exploration. Intuitive Machines supplies space products and services to support sustained robotic and human exploration to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Intuitive Machines’ products and services are offered through its four business units: Lunar Access Services, Orbital Services, Lunar Data Services, and Space Products and Infrastructure. For more information, please visit intuitivemachines.com.

 

For more information: 

Julia Willis, Director of Marketing Communications
Phone: 858-537-6260
Email: marketing@1rockwest.com
Website: www.rockwestcomposites.com

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January 31, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock West Composites Ships First Set of
Solar Array Substrate/Back-Up Structure Assemblies for the DiskSat Program

Rock West Composites announces that this month it shipped the first four solar array substrate/back-up structure assemblies to The Aerospace Corporation in support of the DiskSat Program. The company, whose engineering team consulted on the substrate and assembly design, used their space-grade, off-the-shelf STRATO™ panels to reduce cost and lead times, plus met positional tolerances of 0.010”-0.020” without costly assembly fixtures.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) January 31, 2023 – Rock West Composites (RWC) delivered four combination solar array substrate/back-up structure assemblies to The Aerospace Corporation in support of the DiskSat Program this month. DiskSat is a NASA-funded technology demonstration program that seeks to verify the performance and deployment method of this new small-spacecraft platform. The disk-shaped satellite design has the potential to revolutionize smaller space missions through its high power, large aperture form factor that fits in the circular cross-section of a rocket fairing. By using its own off-the-shelf, space-grade STRATO products, RWC was able to significantly reduce lead time and cost, while helping define structural properties to support the mission’s innovations. If successful, follow-on missions are possible, and other prime contractors may look to use a similar form factor for volumetric and weight efficiencies.

Set of four DiskSat Assemblies

Providing additional services for this build-to-print program, the RWC engineering team consulted on the design including layup, material selection, insert design, bonding methods, and manufacturing strategy. RWC used its own product, the STRATOSubstrate™ LEO class, to ensure a cost-effective solar array substrate. The team used an insert design that allowed for self-fixturing to a tight tolerance, avoiding a costly assembly fixture. The tolerances on the in-plane and out-of-plane inserts match to a global datum scheme, and tolerances were on the order of 0.010-0.020” positional.

The use of STRATOSubstrate LEO panel blanks significantly reduced raw material and blank lead time. STRATOSubstrate LEO class panels use HR40/NB321 unidirectional prepreg, NB301 film adhesive, perforated aluminum honeycomb core, and 0.002” HN Kapton. The inserts for the deliverable were BR-127 primed aluminum bonded with EA9394. The final assembly measures approximately one meter in diameter and 25 centimeters in thickness.

Close-up of the DiskSat assemblies

Detail of DiskSat assemblies’ inserts

“Saving our customer cost and lead time for this innovative and game-changing program by using our STRATOSubstrate LEO class of panels is exactly why we developed the STRATO product line,” said Jeremy Senne, RWC’s Space Segment Director. “We are excited about the potential for this new form factor in the exploration of space.”

About Rock West Composites

Rock West Composites is an employee-owned, advanced composites company. RWC develops, engineers, manufactures, and tests composite products for multiple industries including Space (bus structures, solar array panels and wings, strut assemblies, launch vehicle structures), Aerospace & Defense (radomes, aircraft, and weapon components) and Commercial Equipment (industrial, medical, energy, and sporting). The company is also one of the largest ecommerce suppliers of off-the-shelf carbon fiber tubes, plates, materials, and accessories.

The company’s vision is to “make the magic of composite technologies accessible to the world” by executing flawlessly and providing customers a competitive advantage, all while making it easy to buy. Rock West Composites has locations in San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baja California, Mexico.
www.rockwestcomposites.com

About The Aerospace Corporation

The Aerospace Corporation is a nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and
development center, providing technical expertise and objective analysis for our nation’s space programs. aerospace.org

For more information: 

Julia Willis, Director of Marketing Communications
Phone: 858-537-6260
Email: marketing@1rockwest.com
Website: www.rockwestcomposites.com

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September 13, 2023
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September 2, 2023
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August 18, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock West Composites Delivers Completed Assembly Fixtures for the NASA PASS Program

Rock West Composites announces that this month it has delivered three 9 ft. by 9 ft. assembly fixtures that are part of the Precision Assembly Space Structure (PASS) program supporting NASA’s On-orbit Servicing Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM). Designed with tight tolerances for thermal and moisture stability, the fixtures also required 0.002 in. flatness across 9 fittings and 0.002 in. positional tolerance across the holes and slots for those fittings encompassing the full 9 ft. by 9 ft. panel.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) August 18, 2023 – This month Rock West Composites (RWC) delivered three assembly fixtures for NASA’s Precision Assembly Space Structure (PASS) program supporting the On-orbit Servicing Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) efforts. These fixtures are part of NASA’s push for next generation manufacturing technology that will enable in-orbit construction of high-precision hardware, such as reflectors and antennas, for programs such as Artemis.

Left: CAD image of NASA PASS Reflector assembled (Credit: NASA Langley) Center: CAD image of segment of structural supports with assembly fixture (Credit: NASA Langley) Right: RWC Program Team with completed assembly fixturesLeft: CAD image of NASA PASS Reflector assembled (Credit: NASA Langley) Center: CAD image of segment of structural supports with assembly fixture (Credit: NASA Langley) Right: RWC Program Team with completed assembly fixtures

RWC helped define the requirements and designed the hardware to meet the challenging operational parameters for these fixtures. There are 9 holes and 9 slots on 9 fittings which required a positional tolerance of 0.002 in. The 9 fittings also required a flatness across the fixture of 0.002 in. The panel has to interface with a strut assembly and have very low coefficients of thermal and moisture expansion to ensure high precision and repeatability.

Laser tracker inspection results of panel tolerances

Laser tracker inspection results of panel tolerances

RWC used a spliced panel design to meet the 9 ft. by 9 ft. sizing. Innovative soft fixturing with fine tuning adjustment capability was used to meet tight tolerances in a cost-effective manner. A laser tracker was used to verify tolerances during manufacture.

Left: Panel in manufacturing on adjustable fixtures for precision tuning Right: Detail of single insert adjustable fixture

Left: Panel in manufacturing on adjustable fixtures for precision tuning Right: Detail of single insert adjustable fixture

“We are proud to be part of this program supporting NASA’s mission infrastructure and pushing forward space technology,” said Jeremy Senne, the head of RWC’s Space market segment. “When we can find ways to innovate our manufacturing process that ultimately save our customer time and money, it’s a win-win. We hope to recycle this process for similar large and tight tolerance structures to continue to push the envelope of what’s possible.”

For more information on Rock West Composites’ capabilities, visit www.rockwestcomposites.com.

About Rock West Composites

Rock West Composites is an employee-owned enterprise that develops and manufactures composite products for multiple industries including aerospace, defense, space, radomes, commercial, industrial, medical, energy, and sporting goods. The company is also one of the largest Ecommerce suppliers off-the-shelf carbon fiber tubes, plates, materials, and accessories. Specializing in carbon fiber and RF-transparent composite materials, RWC offers custom products and off-the-shelf solutions that enable customer success by finding innovative solutions to complex problems across the product lifecycle, from concept to design, and prototype to final hardware production. Rock West Composites has facilities in San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baja California, Mexico.

www.rockwestcomposites.com

 

 

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May 1, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock West Composites Completes Development Model Design for Canadarm3

Rock West Composites announces that it has completed the design for the development model for Canadarm3 this month as part of its contract with MDA, a Canadian space company. Over the course of the contract, two primary booms and one qualification boom will be built and tested to support the Canadarm3 robotic arm, which will be supplied by the Canadian Space Agency as part of the lunar Gateway Program.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) May 1, 2023 – This month Rock West Composites (RWC) has completed the design of the development model for Canadarm3. RWC is collaborating with MDA, a leader in advanced technology solutions for the space industry. The team will design, analyze, manufacture, and test the two primary boom structures and supporting spare units for Canadarm3, Canada’s next-generation robotic arm for the lunar Gateway Program.

According to the Canadian Space Agency, “Canadarm3 will be Canada’s contribution to the US-led Gateway, a lunar outpost that will enable sustainable human exploration of the Moon. This highly autonomous robotic system will use cutting-edge software to perform tasks around the Moon without human intervention.” MDA is tasked with establishing the technical requirements for the program, and RWC is developing the boom structures with MDA.

As a critical component of the Canadarm3 system, the boom structure will be responsible for supporting the robotic arm’s operations and ensuring its stability and reliability over its 20+ year service life. The structure must meet challenging structural and weight requirements, as well as tight dimensional tolerances, operate within wide temperature ranges, and withstand radiation.

“Our collaboration with MDA builds upon our proven track record of delivering innovative solutions for the space industry,” said Jeremy Senne, the head of RWC’s Space market segment. “We are excited to contribute our expertise to this project, work alongside MDA to advance Canada’s space robotics capabilities, and support future deep space presence and exploration by mankind.”

Canadarm is an Official Mark of His Majesty the King in Right of Canada as represented by the Ministry of Industry.

An artist's concept of Canadarm3, Canada's smart robotic system, located on the exterior of the Gateway, a small space station in orbit around the Moon. (Credits: Canadian Space Agency, NASA)

An artist’s concept of Canadarm3, Canada’s smart robotic system, located on the exterior of the Gateway, a small space station in orbit around the Moon. (Credits: Canadian Space Agency, NASA)

For more information on Rock West Composites’ capabilities, visit www.rockwestcomposites.com.

For more information on MDA’s Canadarm3 program, visit https://mda.space/en/canadarm3/.

About Rock West Composites

Rock West Composites provides composite products for a variety of markets and customers. Specializing in carbon fiber composites, RWC offers custom products and solutions, such as product development, engineering services, prototyping, and manufacturing, as well as off-the-shelf products, including tubes, plates, complementary materials, and their space-ready STRATO line. Manufacturing processes include filament winding, roll wrap, resin infusion, bladder molding, modified closed mold, compression molding, autoclave cure, and precision assembly. Rock West Composites has facilities in San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baja California, Mexico.  www.rockwestcomposites.com

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For more information: 
Julia Willis, Director of Marketing Communications
Phone: 858-537-6260
Email: marketing@1rockwest.com
Website: www.rockwestcomposites.com

 

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April 11, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock West Composites Is Expanding Its Short Lead Time, Space-Ready STRATO™ Product Line

This month Rock West Composites announces the expansion of its space-grade STRATO product line, which now has two classes created for LEO, GEO and Deep Space applications. These selections of tubes, plates, sandwich panels, and solar array substrates are some of the Space market’s fastest turnaround products with most lead times ranging from two to four weeks.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) April 11, 2023 – Rock West Composites (RWC) announces the expansion of its STRATO space-grade product line this month. Originally focused on tubes for Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) applications, a secondary line will now include products appropriate for Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) and Deep Space use. STRATO products now include plates, sandwich panels, and solar array substrates for both orbital types.

The STRATO line is designed to provide businesses and government agencies high-quality components commonly needed for spacecraft, but RWC offers dramatically shorter lead times—approximately two to four weeks—than competing providers, and the order can be placed easily online.

The entire STRATO line meets key requirements for space, with properties that include low outgassing, low to zero CTE, high modulus materials, and a wide operational temperature range. RWC can offer significantly reduced lead times because it stocks raw materials such as M55J/PMT-F33 Cyanate Ester and HR40/NB321 Epoxy for its ecommerce business.

The STRATOLeo class is a more cost competitive option for meeting space requirements without the additional high-performance capability typically associated with GEO orbits and Deep Space flights. The STRATOGeo class uses top-of-the-line materials in all cases where performance can’t be compromised. The table below details some of the differences of the product classes.

RWC STRATO Product Class Table with Technical Details

Each order includes a certificate package with dimensional inspection, material certificates, traceability, and a certificate of conformance from RWC. All products are serialized and traceable. Additional options for some products include full traveler verification, resin content testing, and short beam shear testing.

“Our goal is to make space quality hardware readily available in a cost effective and efficient manner,” said Jeremy Senne, head of RWC’s Space market segment. “Whether it’s a start-up business building cube sats or large prime contractors looking to optimize operations, agile organizations in a rapidly growing industry need high quality solutions quickly. Our hope is to help minimize design and build timelines by standardizing available products.” 

For more information on RWC’s STRATO line, visit www.rockwestcomposites.com/strato.

About Rock West Composites

Rock West Composites provides composite products for a variety of markets and customers. Specializing in carbon fiber composites, RWC offers custom products and solutions, such as product development, engineering services, prototyping, and manufacturing, as well as off-the-shelf products, including tubes, plates, complementary materials, and their space-ready STRATO line. Manufacturing processes include filament winding, roll wrap, resin infusion, bladder molding, modified closed mold, compression molding, autoclave cure, and precision assembly processes. Rock West Composites has facilities in San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baja California, Mexico.  www.rockwestcomposites.com

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For more information: 
Julia Willis, Director of Marketing Communications
Phone: 858-537-6260
Email: marketing@1rockwest.com
Website: www.rockwestcomposites.com

Read More