{"id":16821,"date":"2014-11-19T01:42:02","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T17:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/3d-printer-activated-aboard-the-international-space-station\/"},"modified":"2014-11-19T01:42:02","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T17:42:02","slug":"3d-printer-activated-aboard-the-international-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/3d-printer-activated-aboard-the-international-space-station\/","title":{"rendered":"3D printer activated aboard the International Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A 3D printer testbed was installed on the International Space Station this week. Credit: Made in Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dream of a self-sufficient space-faring civilization moved a step closer to reality this week as a commercial 3D printer was installed aboard the International Space Station for a tryout in orbit.<\/p>\n

Astronaut Barry \u201cButch\u201d Wilmore unpacked the 3D printer from its launch packaging and put it inside a safety housing in the space station\u2019s Destiny laboratory module, according to Made in Space, Inc., the Silicon Valley startup which built the printer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very exciting day for me and the rest of the team. We had to conquer many technical challenges to get the 3D printer to this stage,\u201d said Mike Snyder, Made in Space\u2019s director of research and development, in an update posted to the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Developed in a public-private partnership between NASA and Made in Space, the 3D printer launched Sept. 21 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It arrived at the space station two days later aboard a Dragon supply ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis experiment has been an advantageous first stepping stone to the future ability to manufacture a large portion of materials and equipment in space that has been traditionally launched from Earth surface, which will completely change our methods of exploration,\u201d Snyder said in Monday\u2019s online update.<\/p>\n

The printer was finally placed in an enclosure called the microgravity science glovebox and switched on Monday. The experiment housing allows astronauts to work with materials that may not be safe in the open atmosphere of the space station.<\/p>\n

NASA wanted to take extra precautions for the first 3D printer in space.<\/p>\n

The 3D printer works by extruding a special type of hot plastic \u2014 known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS \u2014 into layers to form a three-dimensional object. Engineers can upload the specifications of the finished product to the printer\u2019s computer controller, which oversees the unit\u2019s production.<\/p>\n

The ABS plastic is the same material used to make Lego bricks.<\/p>\n

In the coming weeks, the 3D printer will begin testing. It does not require much attention by the astronauts, who only need to set up the system and remove the printed part at the end of the process.<\/p>\n

The printer will produce an initial set of more than 20 demonstration parts, according to NASA. The materials will include tools and test coupons that will also be printed by an exact copy of the Made in Space printer on the ground, then engineers will compare the products.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can build things that come back to the ground, and we can rip them apart,\u201d says Jason Dunn, co-founder and chief technology officer of Made in Space. The test coupons will help test the strength and robustness of the materials printed on the space station.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really important for two reasons,\u201d Dunn says. \u201cOne is it allows us to understand the material characteristics of the printing process, and it also allows us to compare apples to apples with the ground printer to see if it\u2019s actually doing what it\u2019s supposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

After its founding in 2010, Made in Space flew a prototype 3D printer on zero gravity research airplanes, exposing the hardware to 20-second periods of weightlessness to work out how to operate the printers in microgravity.<\/p>\n

\"Engineers
Engineers test the Made in Space printer on a Zero Gravity Corp. airplane. Credit: Made in Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe started with the goal of putting a 3D printer on the space station,\u201d Dunn says. \u201cWe recognized that we needed to first figure out how to make 3D printing work in zero gravity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A regular commercial 3D printer would not work, engineers soon discovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe figured out all the tricks of making a 3D printer work in zero gravity \u2014 everything from how to make the mechanics different \u2014 each layer is fractions of a micron from one layer to the next,\u201d Dunn says. \u201cIn zero gravity, you have things floating around, and if they float within those fractions of a micron, it throws off the whole print.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were also thermal concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you keep the hot things hot and the cold things cold? That\u2019s a tricky problem when you\u2019re dealing with a 3D printer where you\u2019re melting material and forming it into new shapes,\u201d Dunn says.<\/p>\n

If the technology works on the space station, it will be almost as easy as emailing a part to space, Dunn says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the 3D printers that we can put up there, it will make it easy for anybody to put a part in space,\u201d Dunn told Spaceflight Now before the printer\u2019s launch in September. \u201cWe can \u2014 from our ground station \u2014 send a file to the space station and start printing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assuming the testbed works, another 3D printer developed by Made in Space is on track for liftoff to the space station next year. It will be available for use by NASA, international space agencies and commercial users, according to Dunn.<\/p>\n

For future missions into deep space \u2014 where supply lines with Earth may be thin \u2014 astronauts could use 3D printers to manufacture spare parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s especially important when we consider human space exploration,\u201d said Niki Werkheiser, NASA\u2019s manager for the 3D Printing in Zero-G project. \u201cFrom day one, the supply chain has been very constrained. We have to launch every single thing we ever need from Earth, so being able to make what you need on orbit \u2014 when you need it \u2014 is a real game changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunn says a joint study between Made in Space and NASA concluded about 30 percent of broken parts on the space station could be repaired with 3D printed parts.<\/p>\n

3D printing in space would avoid putting parts through the intense shaking and noise of launch, and it could allow engineers to design and build components on the fly as parts break down in space.<\/p>\n

Werkheiser says 3D printers could produce structures for tiny CubeSats that could be released from the space station. Tools, medical gear, and exercise equipment could also be made by a 3D printer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you can design a part to be printed in microgravity, you don\u2019t have to worry about things like launch loads any more,\u201d Werkheiser said before the printer\u2019s launch. \u201cThat has been so beaten into us from day one \u2014 to design for surviving the environment of launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely over-engineering for space just because we have to survive launch,\u201d Dunn says. \u201cSpace manufacturing holds an answer there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really going to open up that design space and the possibilities,\u201d Werkheiser says. \u201cWhen we get that first call for the part that none of us really even thought of \u2014 out of all the brainstorming that we\u2019ve done \u2014 I think that\u2019s going to be a very exciting day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 3D printer testbed was installed on the International Space Station this week. Credit: Made in Space The dream of a self-sufficient space-faring civilization moved a step closer to reality this week as a commercial 3D printer was installed aboard the International Space Station for a tryout in orbit. Astronaut Barry \u201cButch\u201d Wilmore unpacked the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1682,291,4123,233,2591,265],"class_list":["post-16821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-3d-printing","tag-commercial-space","tag-expedition-42","tag-iss","tag-made-in-space","tag-space-station"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}