The European Space Agency has begun an intriguing experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), one that set a record and might shape manufacturing and sustainability in orbit. For the first time, a metal object has been 3D printed in space.
The Metal 3D Printer was sent to the ISS back in January but the experiment only started in more recent days. Installed by ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen back then, the device is controlled on Earth. And the first test was to print a little “S”.
“This S-curve is a test line, successfully concluding the commissioning of our Metal 3D Printer,” ESA technical officer Rob Postema said in a statement.
“The success of this first print, along with other reference lines, leaves us ready to print full parts in the near future. 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.”
A stainless steel wire is fed to a printing area, similar to how plastic wire is fed in a regular 3D printer. But melting plastic is much easier. Here, a laser one million times more powerful than a laser pointer melts the tip, allowing for structures to be created in the printer. The printer is sealed while working so no fumes get out and into the space station.
Four objects have been selected to be printed following this test, although ESA has not discussed details yet. They will be brought back to Earth and tested against exact copies printed under gravity. Researchers are interested in seeing if there are differences between the two.
Printing metal tools in space could be great for multiple reasons. It means that they do not have to be brought from Earth, but simply constructed when the need arises. And it could be more sustainable, as ESA hopes to create a circular economy in space where nothing gets thrown out and everything is recycled. This is an exciting development, one that starts with a little S-curve.
