Here is a perfect example where 3D printing provided a cheaper alternative for a robust solution to gauge temperature and plasma variations. This type of rapid prototyping process will even spur more innovation in satellite and spacecraft design.
“If you want to innovate, you need to be able to fail and afford the risk. Additive manufacturing is a very different way to make space hardware. I can make space hardware and if it fails, it doesn’t matter because I can make a new version very quickly and inexpensively, and really iterate on the design. It is an ideal sandbox for researchers.”
More recently: ESA achieves historic world’s 1st metal 3D printing on space station (interestingengineering.com)
ESA achieves historic world’s 1st metal 3D printing on space station
The European Space Agency aims to create a circular economy in space where defunct satellite parts could be repurposed via 3D printing.
A consortium led by Airbus has successfully performed the first metal 3D printing aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The printing, which took place last Thursday, May 30, 2024, created a small S-shaped curve out of liquefied stainless steel. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the test line shows that the printer will soon start manufacturing usable materials.
ESA hopes to one day repurpose pieces of old defunct satellites using 3D printers like the one aboard the ISS. The world first test is a key step in the agency’s efforts to create a circular economy in space.
The metal 3D printer flew to the ISS on January 30 this year aboard the Cygnus NG-20 mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It weighs roughly 180 kg (396 lbs).
Plastic-based 3D printers are already used aboard the ISS. However, metal 3D printers pose a greater challenge. They require lasers that heat the metals to a high enough temperature so that they are liquefied. As such, the metal printer aboard the ISS is held inside a fully sealed box that prevents excess heat or fumes from escaping.
“The success of this first print, along with other reference lines, leaves us ready to print full parts in the near future,” ESA technical officer Rob Postema explained in a press statement.
“We’ve reached this point thanks to the hard efforts of the industrial team led by Airbus Defence and Space SAS, the CADMOS User Support Centre in France, from which print operations are overseen from the ground, as well as our own ESA team,” he said.
“We’re very happy to have performed the very first metal 3D printing aboard the ISS,” added Sébastien Girault, part of the team at Airbus. “The quality is as good as we could dream!”
How the metal 3D printer works
After the metal 3D printer reached the ISS in January, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen installed the machine in ESA’s Columbus ISS module.
The printer feeds stainless-steel wire into a chamber. This is then heated by a high-power laser, melting the steel and allowing it to be shaped by the printer. The entire printing process is controlled from the ground. Before the test, the crew aboard the ISS was only tasked with opening a nitrogen and venting valve.
Next, the printer will be used to create four shapes that will be sent to Earth for analysis.
“Two of these printed parts will be analyzed in the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory at ESTEC in the Netherlands, to help us understand whether prolonged microgravity has an effect on the printing of metallic materials,” ESA materials engineer Advenit Makaya explained in the statement. “The other two will go to the European Astronaut Centre and the Technical University of Denmark, DTU.”
Once there is an operational metal 3D printer aboard the ISS, astronauts could 3D print many required parts in orbit. This would save a great deal on launch costs, as those tools would typically have to be launched to the ISS aboard a cargo mission.
Companies like Markforged, Impossible Objects , Nano Dimension and Desktop Metal are already defining new frontiers in Additive Manufacturing. We, at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) will be following their progression and utilizing their technologies to build smart and connected products and solutions.
Additive Manufacturing is key to our business thesis. Our philosophy “Born not Built” succinctly encapsulates it’s premise wherein we are morphing from the “destructive” tradition of subtractive manufacturing to creating products layer by layer.
Being embedded at mHUB and a partner of MxD enables us to innovate in additive technologies and be mindful of design for manufacturing and cybersecurity issues to build and scale or operations appropriately and in due course.
NITIN UCHIL Founder, CEO & Technical Evangelistnitin.uchil@numorpho.com