From Ground Tests to Flight Confidence with Metal Additive Manufacturing
AndroMach is developing a 4-meter spaceplane designed to reach 200 km altitude and return to Earth, enabling up to five minutes of microgravity for scientific experiments.
To move the program forward, the team needed to validate a critical subsystem: the rocket engine.
Aerospace
France
10 - 50 Employees
Prototype Development & Ground Testing
Metal 3D Printing (EBM) + CNC Machining
High-temperature aerospace-grade metal alloy
Rocket engine ground demonstrator (combustion chamber and injector plate)
Successfully completed 20 hot-fire tests with over 300 seconds of cumulative firing time
Validated engine performance, reduced development risk, and accelerated the transition toward the optimized flight engine design with confidence from CNES.
AndroMach is developing a reusable spaceplane designed to reach 200 km altitude and return to Earth, enabling short-duration microgravity missions for scientific experiments.
At this stage, their priority was not full-scale production, but validating a critical subsystem: the rocket engine. To move forward toward flight, the team needed a ground demonstrator capable of delivering reliable performance data under real operating conditions.
Their focus was clear: test fast, learn quickly, and reduce development risk, while working with manufacturing partners capable of producing complex, high-performance aerospace components without slowing down the engineering team.
Credits : Gabriel Madignier
Working with MakerVerse gave us confidence that the components would be produced by manufacturers with the right experience in rocket engine applications and materials.
The engine performed extremely well during the campaign, successfully completing 20 hot-fire tests and accumulating more than 300 seconds of firing time. This allowed us to collect the data we needed and move forward toward the final flight engine design.
The decision was also supported by CNES, the French space agency funding the project.
Simon Allardet
Co-founder& Propulsion Engineer
The Challenge: Proving Performance Before Flight
AndroMach is developing a reusable 4-meter spaceplane designed to reach 200 km altitude and provide up to five minutes of microgravity for scientific experiments.
Before building the final flight engine, the team needed a ground demonstrator to validate the propulsion system under real conditions. The objective was to:
Collect performance data for design optimization
Validate thermal and structural behavior
Withstand repeated hot-fire tests
Produce complex internal geometries suitable for high-performance combustion
Speed was critical. The team needed qualified manufacturing capabilities without long supplier searches or coordination overhead that could slow down development.
Credits : Gabriel Madignier
The Solution: Metal Additive Manufacturing Built for Hot-Fire Conditions
AndroMach used MakerVerse to manufacture the key engine components through advanced metal additive manufacturing combined with precision machining.
The project included:
Combustion chamber
Fully metal 3D printed and CNC-machined to final tolerancesInjector plate
Manufactured using EBM (Electron Beam Melting), followed by machining and precision drilling
Through MakerVerse, the team accessed experienced suppliers capable of producing high-performance aerospace components in the required material, without building and managing a specialized supplier network.
This enabled a fast production start and reliable execution for a critical development phase.
The Results
Validated Performance Under Real Conditions
20 successful hot-fire test attempts
More than 300 seconds of cumulative firing time
Stable and consistent engine behavior throughout the campaign
Clear Mach diamond patterns indicating healthy pressure and combustion performance
The test program delivered the operational data required to move forward with the optimized flight engine design.
Credits : Gabriel Madignier
Why It Matters
For aerospace development, the biggest risk is not design. It is whether critical hardware performs as expected under real conditions.
By enabling fast access to qualified manufacturing for complex metal parts, MakerVerse helped AndroMach:
Reduce technical and schedule risk
Accelerate the validation phase
Move faster from prototype to flight-ready design
Focus engineering resources on testing and optimization instead of supplier management
Other Use Cases
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