Tricor Metals fabricates support structure for solar probe

Tricor Metals, a Wooster, Ohio-based supplier of titanium mill products and titanium forgings and a fabricator of ASME code equipment, has fabricated the support structure that was part of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft, launched recently for the sun.

The PSP is a NASA mission built and operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. Tricor’s titanium-alloy structure plays an enabling role in terms of the probe’s strength-to-mass ratio and ability to position the thermal protection system that shields the spacecraft from much of the sun’s radiation.

Brandon Clark, Tricor’s project manager, said “This project demanded that we build to some tighter-than-usual tolerances. We employed a high-strength titanium alloy and managed a smart milling process to reduce the weight of this structure while still accomplishing the structural requirements.”