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‘THE BLEEDING EDGE’: Another recent addition to USACA is the startup Canopy Aerospace, which is leveraging the latest in additive manufacturing to produce materials for the extreme environments of space and other sectors such as energy.
Founded in 2021 as part of a NASA-sponsored entrepreneurship program, the company has swiftly built a varied customer base. It works for large and established aerospace companies ferrying astronauts to and from orbit and developing new hypersonic missiles. It supports a range of other startups developing the next generation of space launch vehicles and reentry vehicles, new modes of in-space propulsion for satellites, and even nuclear-powered spacecraft.
Growing portfolio: The company, which will co-host USACA’s Fall Technical Meeting in September, has gained high-profile attention for its efforts to substantially reduce the cost of thermal protection systems and has inked recent partnerships with the U.S. Air Force, Purdue University, and the Missile Defense Agency.
“We are advanced material system developers for the highest temperature and highest energy density missions in the universe,” Will Dickson, Canopy’s Chief Commercial Officer, says. “We are operating at the bleeding edge of new technology and what it can do, at a time when the market is exploding.”
We caught up with Dickson and Dan Wilson, Canopy’s Director of Commercialization, to discuss the company’s vision and what it sees on the horizon for the industry.
USACA: Canopy was founded to make heat shields for spacecraft. But how are you doing it differently?
WD: That was the original thesis of the company, but we’ve expanded into new material processes along with novel coating systems. We’re constantly innovating in both materials and manufacturing processes to reduce cost and increase performance. Can you apply the coatings robotically? Can you 3D print the substrate material for the tiles? Can you embed wireless sensors into these complex materials for thermal protection? That's really our bigger focus and the narrative for Canopy moving forward.
USACA: Canopy has had an impressive record of success in three-plus years. What's your competitive edge?
DW: You don't hear about many ceramic startups because commercializing new materials is difficult, lengthy, expensive, and capital-intensive. Canopy had some visionary founders, and their goal was not an expensive technology with a slow adoption speed—for example, something that costs three times as much and only lasts four times longer in service. The goal is something that is equivalent to or maybe 90 percent as good but is much less expensive and has a much higher production rate. We are a startup that has moved at much faster speeds than a lot of ceramic companies even attempt to go.
USACA: Where do you see Canopy’s technological advantage?
WD: On the technology side, we are at an inflection point where 3D printers and robotics are commoditized enough so we can build upon these advanced manufacturing platforms. We're at the point in our journey where we're starting to crank the wheel on fielding and qualifying brand-new material systems. We want to be one step up. An example is combining the right photopolymer resin and the powder combinations to tailor properties for specific use cases for thermal protection systems and in-space propulsion.
Go deeper: Startup NASA Series: Canopy Aerospace
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