For safety reasons, the printer operates within a fully isolated box, preventing any excess heat or fumes from escaping. The 3D printer will go on to produce some full-scale prints. The technology can pave the way for a circular space economy

New Delhi: For the first time, metal 3D printing has been executed on board the International Space Station (ISS), with the deposition of a small s-curve in liquefied stainless steel. The test line successfully commissions a European metal 3D printer, paving the way for advanced in-orbit additive manufacturing.

The European Space Agency has demonstrated metal 3D printing on board the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time. An industrial team led by Airbus developed the 3D printer technology demonstration, which was ferried to the ISS in January. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen installed the payload in the European Draw Rack Mark II, part of ESA’s Columbus module.

The metal 3D printer uses a design based on a stainless-steel wire being fed into the printing area, which is heated by a high-power laser, about a million times more powerful than a standard laser pointer. The end of the wire melts and is added to the print as it dips into the melt pool. The process was primarily overseen from the ground, with the crew only having to open and venting a nitrogen valve before initiating the printer.

ESA technical officer Rob Postema said, “This S-curve is a test line, successfully concluding the commissioning of our Metal 3D Printer. 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.”

Towards A Circular Space Economy

Four shapes have been chosen for subsequent full-scale 3D printing, which will be returned to the Earth and compared to reference prints made under the influence of normal gravity. One of the goals of ESA is to create a circular economy in space, where materials in orbit can be recycled, allowing for better use of resources.

The raw material for 3D printing can potentially be sourced from old and defunct satellites and other space debris, which can be used for fabricating new tools or even structures. An operational version of such a metal 3D printer would eliminate the need to send up a particular tool or spare part to orbit, allowing the astronauts to print stuff they need in orbit itself.

(With Inputs From Agencies)