ASTRO Recap – April
Greetings from ASTRO! 👋
In this month’s issue:
- New Challenge Launched: In-Situ Awareness for Metal AM
- ASTM International and ASTRO America Collaborate to Advance Large-Scale AM
- ASTRO in the News
- ASTRO in Action
- Coming Up
New Challenge Launched: In-Situ Awareness for Metal AM ⚙️
ASTRO America, in partnership with ASTM International and FSU InSPIRE, has launched the In-Situ Awareness Challenge – a targeted effort to identify breakthrough sensor and monitoring technologies for real-time quality control in metal additive manufacturing.
Selected companies will have the opportunity to install and demonstrate their systems on ASTRO’s industrial-scale 3D printers at Maritech Machine. The goal: accelerate solutions that detect defects early, reduce material waste, and improve build reliability.
Learn more and apply: astroa.org/events/in-situ-awareness-challenge
ASTM International and ASTRO America Collaborate to Advance Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing 🔧
ASTRO America has teamed up with ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence to advance Additive Friction Stir Deposition (AFSD), a promising large-scale 3D printing technology.
The multi-year collaboration will focus on developing standards, quality systems, and best practices to accelerate AFSD’s industrial adoption. Efforts include stakeholder workshops, integrated control planning, and the development of novel Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) methods.
Read the full release here.
ASTRO in the News 📰
This month, Stars and Stripes featured ASTRO America’s Guam Advanced Material & Manufacturing Accelerator (GAMMA) — an initiative to build a local facility that will enable the Navy to 3D print submarine parts on demand.
Coinciding with the award of $5 million in FY24 Navy funding (with more anticipated), the project aims to enhance military readiness, create up to 100 local jobs, and position Guam as a regional leader in advanced manufacturing.
The facility will support Submarine Squadron 15 at Naval Base Guam and is expected to serve additional sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and construction. It will also partner with local colleges and a mainland engineering university to offer degree and certification programs in advanced manufacturing.
——
This week, Metrology and Quality News published a piece on the aforementioned In Situ Awareness Challenge, calling it a “bold step toward advancing quality control in metal additive manufacturing.”
“As real-time quality monitoring becomes a linchpin in the digital thread of advanced manufacturing, challenges like this one are critical for aligning innovation with industry demand.”
ASTRO in Action 🎤
Earlier this month, Abdalla Nassar, Ph.D., ASTRO’s Vice President of AM Forward Technologies, spoke at the RAPID + TCT Conference in Detroit on the panel “The Case for AI/ML in Additive Manufacturing.”
Dr. Nassar joined fellow experts to explore how AI and machine learning are driving innovation and shaping the future of large-scale AM.
Additionally, ASTRO participated in the 2025 Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association (AMGTA) Member Summit, also in Detroit. Our co-founder, Jason Gorey, participated in the keynote panel, “AI in Advanced Manufacturing: Implications for Sustainability.”
The conversation highlighted how artificial intelligence is poised to transform additive manufacturing—and drive meaningful progress toward more sustainable practices across the industry.
Coming Up 🗓️
- AWS Welding Summit – (August 6-8 – The Woodlands, Texas)
- SFF Symposium – (August 10-13 – Austin, Texas)
- FABTECH – (September 8-11 – Chicago, IL)
- CAMX – (September 8-11 – Orlando, FL)
- IMTS – (September 15 – Chicago, IL)
- ICAM – (October 6-10 – Las Vegas, NV)