Case Study: Lockheed Martin achieves modular, lightweight lunar storage for NASA's Gateway with Protolabs

Lockheed Martin Explores a Different Kind of Space for NASA

Lockheed Martin turned to Protolabs for rapid sheet metal fabrication to solve critical storage-space limitations in NASA’s Gateway living quarters. Lockheed Martin needed a lightweight, strong, modular storage backbone to secure experiments and cargo through launch and long-duration missions, and Protolabs used its sheet‑metal capabilities (solid aluminum parts fabricated at its Nashua facility) to meet stringent weight, strength, longevity and safety requirements.

Protolabs manufactured precise, chamfered aluminum components with complex bends, shipped them to Florida and installed them in Lockheed Martin’s Habitat Ground Test Article (HGTA). The Protolabs solution arrived on a competitive schedule and price, met Lockheed Martin and NASA criteria, and is now in HGTA testing — providing modular, generation‑lasting storage that protects payloads during launch and will be evaluated by astronauts ahead of future lunar missions.

Lockheed Martin

Chris Cloutier

Systems Integration Engineer