Next year in fall, NASA would be launching a 3D printer into space. For this, NASA has picked one out of a number of machines ranging from $300 desktop models to $500,000 warehouse builders.
The venture is being dubbed as a great achievement for the agency as it would free astronauts from carrying every tool, spare part, or anything that may be required on space.
The printer would craft objects by protruding layer over layer of plastic made from the long strands enveloped around large spools. These spools would substitute for scores of extra instruments and hardware in the upcoming mission. However, the mission is only a demonstration of printing.
The machines were initially developed to be used on Earth or confront the space challenges such as problems of launch or pressure of functioning in the orbit. This encapsulates issues like microgravity, different air pressures, extreme temperatures and limited power. So, the basic purpose of 3D printers was to tone down such problems.
NASA had hired Silicon Valley startup Made In Space to construct something that would not be hackneyed. According to the director of engineering at Nasa''''s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, about 35 miles south of San Francisco, "If you want to be adaptable, you have to be able to design and manufacture on the fly, and that''''s where 3D printing in space comes in.”
According to Aaron Kemmer, CEO of Made in Space, "Imagine an astronaut needing to make a life-or-death repair on the International Space Station. Rather than hoping that the necessary parts and tools are on the station already, what if the parts could be 3-D printed when they needed them?"
Fleshing out the details, the engineers at NASA have been 3D printing miniature satellites that would be shuttled out of the International Space Station.
3-D printer’s inventor Andrew Filo, who is consulting with NASA on the project, has said, "Any time we realize we can 3D print something in space, it''''s like Christmas. You can get rid of concepts like rationing, scarce or irreplaceable.”
Though the mission is initially a demonstration of printing, finally it would have to capture gasses moving out from the extruded plastics, print their own parts for self-repairs and recycle printed products.
Originally Published on 2013-09-30.
