3D Printer In Space Gets To Work

The folks over at NASA are certainly knee deep in research and development as well, and they have been working on the possibility of 3D printed food before. Well, it seems that there is yet another milestone achieved this week where human spaceflight is concerned – a 3D printer was turned on in space, which in turn resulted in the first official 3D print on the International Space Station (ISS).

In order to come up with the 3D print, it took a wee bit more than an hour to do so, and once completed, history was made. The Made In Space Operations Center in Moffett Field which is located in California saw the team command the printer, where the machine itself received and executed the relevant commands remotely. This marks the first time that humans could be able to manufacture while they are in space. Right now, even if space station requires a part which can be printed out by a 3D printer, that would just be pure gold, as all instructions are sent from earth itself, now how about that for flexibility?

The space station’s printer will utilize common consumer plastics, which means its applications will be limited, but at least that means we need not send up some other parts from earth, ever again.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Transportation
Tags: 3d printer