NASA Green Lights 3D Printer for ISS
Made In Space 3D Printer Gets Green Light from NASA for Launch, SpaceRef
“After passing the last NASA test, Made In Space will see its 3D printer launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in August by SpaceX as part of NASA’s 4th Commercial Resupply mission (CRS-4).
Originally the 3D printer was scheduled to fly on the SpaceX CRS-5 mission but because the company met all its milestones early the launch was moved up to CRS-4.”
the future is soon. spacesuit got a leaky water valve? don’t send it back to Earth for repair. just print yourself a new part
This will be great for a lot of applications however I would guess that for critical parts for life support systems, spacesuits, etc. one of the sticking points at least short term will be quality control sign-offs. Think of all the rigorous testing and inspections that any particular manufactured part has to go through down here on Earth before NASA will certify it for flight, regardless of how many identical parts just like it were built using the same equipment. So at least initially I imagine that for any critical systems they will be extremely hesitant to allow parts created on orbit to be used without testing and inspection.
Either they have to get over that and be willing to put their faith completely in the 3D printing process, or I think more likely is there will be parallel developments in space based test equipment, which can then download test data, laser images, x-ray images etc. of a new part down to Earth for analysis, thus duplicating as much as possible the testing and inspection that is currently done on the ground. Reading the article it mentions some data and video that will be downloaded from orbit but I don’t know how extensive it is, seems like they will be doing most of the testing after the parts are returned to Earth. That of course will build confidence but again just how far will they be willing to trust this method for critical parts unless they also have a way to test on orbit.
oh, i’m certain you’re right. there’s no way they’d do anything mission critical with it, at least not in the near term. i imagine they will indeed fabricate some small items and ship them back to Earth for analysis before making anything vital with it. i imagine they’d be fine making simple things like brackets to attach things to. but still, the future is soon 🙂
Most likely the first “mission critical” 3D printed parts to visit ISS will be the eight SuperDraco engines on Dragon V2, unless Dragon V1 has printed parts we don’t know about.
i meant 3D printed parts actually made on the ISS.
Agree… but it is nice to have this as an extra backup. They could print a part faster than having to wait for one to be shipped up if it’s not something they have a spare of already. They’d need to work up printing programs for things, and I’m sure wouldn’t do that in advance for everything, but that would probably also be faster than waiting on shipping. All in all this is a great development and forward thinking.
Some actual technological progress happening in space, for a change. Awesome.
Indeed. Some day – not soon, but inevitable – it will be cheaper to make just about everything in space than on Earth for in-space applications. And after that, it will eventually be cheaper even to make it in space for Earth-based customers.
Based on the photos, they are extruding nylon to build the parts. Surely not something for a critical application. Power usage down in the 40 watt range. Metal parts would consume way too much power for reasonable use, although lack of gravity would make the powder method a non-starter anyway.
Tea, earl grey, hot