First Metal Object 3D-Printed in Space Recovered on Earth
In a press release, the ESA announced that the object — a round metal demonstration part, produced on the International Space Station, that features a variety of stubby cylindrical objects — is now safely in the hands of agency scientists in the Netherlands.
At the ESA's European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), scientists will soon conduct quality analysis experiments to see what differences show up in objects manufactured in zero-gravity environments. A second, similarly 3D-printed object will be brought back to Earth and handed over to the Technical University of Denmark.
Just over a year ago, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen successfully installed the Airbus-built metal 3D printer in the Space Station's Columbus module — a feat unto itself, given that setting up complicated machinery like that is hard enough on Earth and all the more so without gravity.
Soon after, the printer proved its prowess when it printed a curly "S" shape on a flat piece of metal, followed by two full samples including the one now in the hands of ESA scientists at ESTEC.
Though this feat will inevitably help pave the way for future off-world manufacturing endeavors, this wasn't the first time an object had been 3D printed in orbit.
That distinction occurred more than a decade ago, when NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore — the same one who's slated to come back down to Earth in a few weeks after being stuck on the ISS for 10 months longer than expected — installed and test-calibrated the first-ever in-orbit 3D printer.
That printer could only produce plastic objects, though, which Wilmore used to craft a faceplate for its own casing.
While we're still many moons away from building self-sufficient space habitats with objects created in situ, this test is a fascinating look into what humans can build for themselves in zero gravity — and a nice reminder that there are broader horizons beyond our Terran foibles.
More on space manufacturing: Robot With Large Drill Headed for Surface of Moon
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