TO GO WHERE NO 3D PRINTER HAS GONE BEFORE...
posted 07 March 2016 at 08:54:01
On March 23, 2016, NASA will blast a 'zero-gravity' 3D
printer (Zero-G) into deepest space. Designed to help the six-strong crew of
the International Space Station (ISS) print spare parts via digital designs sent
from Earth, the printer will be the first manufacturing device ever to operate
in space and is the first step towards having an on-demand machine shop in
space.
Andrew Rush, Chief Executive of Made in Space, the company
that has developed the printer, says, "You can bring us a USB stick with
your file and we can digitally send it into space. Via 3D printing, we can make
that object and completely avoid putting it on a rocket."
This basically means that, instead of launching rockets that
cost hundreds of million of dollars into space every time an item or tool is
required, astronauts will be able to print the components themselves. The
printer also lends itself to using new materials only available in space, such
as Moon dust and asteroids. According to NASA, 3D printing could prove to be
the 'pinnacle of outsourced manufacturing'.
"This new manufacturing process really opened the
design space and allowed for part geometries that would be impossible with
traditional machining or casting methods," says David Eddleman, one of the
3D printing team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre.