The special place of AM in the space industry, with Launcher Head of Manufacturing Tim Berry

VoxelMatters Podcast

Additive manufacturing has a special place in the space beyond our own planet. It has emerged as a clear enabling technology for an entirely new generation of commercial companies targeting orbit, deep space, the Moon, and Mars.

That’s why I could not be any happier to welcome today’s guest, Tim Berry, Head of Manufacturing at Launcher. Launcher is one of the clearest examples of the amazing results that a space startup can achieve by using AM to bring its innovative ideas to life.

Tim is bringing his extensive experience as the former Head of AM at SpaceX, a company that in many ways showed the world that commercial space was possible and did so by heavily implementing AM for engine development and manufacturing early on.

Tim’sexperience merges rapid, low-cost aerospace production with innovative, high-volume metal 3D printing, launch vehicle production, and crew-rated spacecraft integration during his 8+ year career at SpaceX. His CV speaks for itself

From 2013 to 2019, as Falcon 9 Stage 2 Lead, he led a multidisciplinary team performing a wide array of production processes, from structures to final integration, to manufacture 90 upper stages that supported Falcon 9 missions, while significantly improving quality and exit rate.

From 2019 to 2021, as Dragon 2 Crew and Cargo Integration Supervisor, he managed a large team of leads, engineers, and technicians responsible for building the integration system that produced eight Dragon Crew and Cargo spacecraft during his tenure.

Finally, as the Manager of Additive Manufacturing, he oversaw all Production and Development Additive Manufacturing including Applications, Processes, and Operations Engineering as well as Technician and Scheduling teams. Here he managed a massive fleet of printers spanning 4 platforms producing hardware for all SpaceX programs and forming one of the highest volume AM labs in the world.

Now Tim is starting a new era at Launcher, for himself, as the Head of Manufacturing, and for the company, which is among the most successful already in the next generation of AM-driven space startups. Today we get to ask him what comes next.