ASTRO America August 2025 Newsletter

Sep 11, 2025

ASTRO Recap – August

Greetings from ASTRO! đź‘‹

In this month’s issue:

  • ASTRO America, ASTM International, and FSU InSPIRE Announce Top Performers in Inaugural 3D Printing Tech Challenge
  • ASTRO Selected to Speak at ICAM25
  • ASTRO in the News
  • ASTRO in Action
  • Coming Up

Challenge Winners Announced 🔧 

ASTRO America, ASTM International’s AM CoE, and FSU InSPIRE named Additive Assurance (top vote-getter) and Addiguru the leading performers in the inaugural Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge, a first-of-its-kind competition evaluating real-time sensor and monitoring technologies for metal additive manufacturing under production-relevant conditions.

The decision followed live demos in Panama City, FL, where five finalists – Jentek Sensors, Additive Assurance, Phase3D, Applied Optimization, and Addiguru – installed their systems on ASTRO’s industrial metal 3D printers at Maritech Machine and presented results to evaluators from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Boeing, GE Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Kratos, Stifel, ASTM, FSU, and ASTRO. The initiative addresses a persistent industry gap by validating which in-situ solutions deliver real value before post-process inspection.

Next steps: both Additive Assurance and Addiguru have been meeting with prospective investors and end-users, and all five finalists are invited to present at ASTM’s ICAM in Las Vegas this October and to engage with FSU’s IGNITE program connecting small businesses to investors and incubators.

Read the full release here.

ASTRO to Present at ICAM25 ⚙️

ASTRO America’s Director of Additive Technology and Mid-Atlantic GM, Dr. Jared Blecher, has been selected to present at ASTM International’s ICAM 2025 in Las Vegas this October. His talk, “Sensor Optimization and Signal Prediction via Process Monitoring Simulation Tool for Laser Metal (PBFAM),” details how process simulation can speed development of tailored in-situ sensors for laser powder bed fusion metal AM.

Backed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Dr. Blecher’s two years of research combines value-stream analysis with advanced modeling to improve quality and shorten timelines across hypersonics-relevant supply chains. Beginning in October, ASTRO plans to support the next phase—evaluating joining technologies for hypersonic flowpath production, with a focus on lower-cost, more versatile laser welding as an alternative to electron beam welding.

Read the full release here, and register for ICAM 2025 here.

ASTRO in the News 📰 

Spotlight on Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge

Following the announcement of the top performers in ASTRO, ASTM International, and FSU InSPIRE’s inaugural Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge, the news was picked up by several leading industry publications, including:

Congratulations again to Additive Assurance and Addiguru! Stay tuned for more exciting updates from last week’s showcase.

Spotlight on GAMMA

Last month, The National Interest profiled the Guam Additive Materials & Manufacturing Accelerator (GAMMA), calling it a “much-needed asset” and highlighting how it will broaden the defense industrial base. Read the full story here.

Additionally, 3D Printing Industry and VoxelMatters both covered GAMMA respectively in August, highlighting the planned facility, Guam’s strategic importance in Indo-Pacific defense efforts, and the creation of a dedicated, on-island workforce.

ASTRO in Action 🎤

This week, ASTRO was at the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)’s 2025 Technical Data Rights Forum, where President Neal Orringer joined a panel on “Managing IP in Additive Manufacturing.” 

He participated alongside NAVAIR’s David Nazemi, Boeing’s Nicholas Mulé, and Lockheed Martin’s Jason Bridges, with Boeing’s Jonathan Lim-Mason moderating – bringing together leaders with deep expertise at the intersection of innovation, IP, and defense.

Coming Up 🗓️