---
title: "Rocket Lab signs MoU with Nikon SLM Solutions for ultra-large metal AM platform"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/rocket-lab-signs-mou-with-nikon-slm-solutions-for-ultra-large-metal-am-platform/
date: 2025-06-11
modified: 2025-06-16
lang: en
author: "Davide Sher"
description: "Rocket Lab, a global leader in space systems and launch services, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nikon SLM Solutions to reserve two of its upcoming ultra-large-format NXG..."
categories:
  - "Aerospace AM"
  - "AM for Space"
  - "Paris Air Show"
tags:
  - "future"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pr-rocket-lab-640x421.jpg
word_count: 313
---

# Rocket Lab signs MoU with Nikon SLM Solutions for ultra-large metal AM platform

[Rocket Lab, a global leader in space systems and launch services](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/rocket-lab/), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with [Nikon SLM Solutions](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/slm-solutions/) to reserve two of its upcoming ultra-large-format NXG metal additive manufacturing platforms.

“We are proud to deepen our collaboration with Rocket Lab as they continue to pioneer scalable, high-performance AM for space,” said Sam O’Leary, CEO of Nikon SLM Solutions. “Their decision to reserve our forthcoming ultra-large platform underscores a shared belief in pushing the limits of innovation—and doing so with confidence at scale.”

![Rocket Lab signs a significant MoU with Nikon SLM to reserve advanced metal 3D printing platforms for space missions.](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/rocket_lab_bacae449-ad2d-ea34-e493-59819c1b6ed2.jpg)This agreement marks a major step forward in Rocket Lab’s ongoing investment in advanced manufacturing technologies and reinforces its commitment to scaling high-performance additive production for space applications.

Rocket Lab has made additive manufacturing a staple of its strategy from the very start, [developing multiple generations of rocket engines that are almost entirely 3D printed](https://www.voxelmatters.com/rocket-lab-completes-archimedes-3d-printed-engine-build/). The ultra-large format system will expand Rocket Lab’s additive capabilities beyond its existing fleet, providing greater design freedom, throughput, and building volume to support its growing ambitions in aerospace manufacturing.

Designed to serve the most demanding industrial sectors, Nikon SLM Solutions’ next-generation system will produce significantly larger parts at unmatched productivity, helping manufacturers like Rocket Lab reduce part counts, optimize designs, and accelerate time to launch.

At the time of writing, Rocket Lab, the most successful after SpaceX in the number of yearly deliveries to orbit, is preparing for its next Electron mission, scheduled for lift-off on Wednesday, June 12th, from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.  “The Mountain God Guards” is the fourth in a series of eight  Electron launches booked by iQPS to deploy its QPS-SAR satellites to orbit this year.

The mission will launch the next of iQPS' satellites - QPS-SAR-11, nicknamed YAMATSUMI-I, to a circular 575km orbit, where it will join the remainder of the company’s constellation for global Earth imaging using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology.