amsight is leading DIQAM, an ESA project intended to organise additive-manufacturing qualification evidence into a standard, machine-readable chain. The 12-month programme began in September 2026 with support from ESA Future Space Transportation and the FIRST! initiative.

The project does not promise a new printing process. It aims to connect powder, process, machine, sensor, post-processing, CT and mechanical-test data so accepted evidence can be reused and statistically evaluated across later builds and suppliers.

Three concrete deliverables

The consortium plans a space-specific reference specification, a Digital Part Qualification File and a software prototype for automated ingestion and evidence aggregation. The proposed format is also intended to make supplier data more comparable.

Partners include ArianeGroup, ISPTech, APWORKS, Bimo Tech and Fraunhofer IAPT, covering launchers, propulsion, manufacturing, materials and research. The lead organisation's release shows that the detailed schema and access model are still to be developed.

Two demonstrators

Validation will use an ArianeGroup phase-change-material container for Ariane 6 and an additively manufactured high-pressure propellant tank for ISPTech's 4U CubeSat propulsion system. Two industrial cases can prove data relationships, but they cannot automatically qualify every material, machine, geometry and failure mode.

Why evidence reuse is difficult

Manufacturing history often lives across PDFs, machine logs, laboratory files and supplier systems. The same field can use different names, units and sampling rules. A digital chain must connect not only files but also versions, units, calibration, permissions and provenance of changes.

Statistical reuse is defensible only for comparable populations. A different powder lot, heat treatment, orientation or geometric risk may allow earlier evidence to support, but not necessarily replace, new testing.

What success should look like

A meaningful result would reduce manual document assembly while allowing an auditor to trace each claim back to raw data and approval. Useful metrics include missing-data rate, incorrect joins, report-building time and the number of tests that can be removed with a technical justification.

Editorial conclusion

DIQAM matters because its qualification scope is concrete, not because it has already accelerated certification. It can become an industrial template if it produces a public or standardisable data model, an auditable prototype and quantified demonstrator results.

Sources

- amsight: amsight to lead ESA FIRST! project to digitalise qualification of 3D-printed space components — primary project release, 5 October 2026. - ESA FIRST! — official programme background. - Metal AM: DIQAM project — specialist topic detector, 6 October 2026.