{"id":8788,"date":"2014-12-03T14:29:27","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T14:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.generalknowledgetoday.com\/?p=8788"},"modified":"2014-12-03T14:29:27","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T14:29:27","slug":"nasa-creates-first-3d-printed-object-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/?p=8788","title":{"rendered":"NASA creates first 3D printed object in space"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nasa3DPrintinginSpace\"<\/a>
\nThe world’s first zero-gravity 3D printer on the International Space Station (ISS) has created the first object made using additive manufacturing, paving the way for future long-term space expeditions.<\/p>\n

“This first print is the initial step towards providing an on-demand machine shop capability away from Earth,” said Niki Werkheiser, project manager for the ISS 3-D Printer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n

“The space station is the only laboratory where we can fully test this technology in space,” said Werkheiser.<\/p>\n

NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore, Expedition 42 commander aboard the ISS, installed the printer on November 17 and conducted the first calibration test print.<\/p>\n

Based on the test print results, the ground control team sent commands to realign the printer and printed a second calibration test on November 20.<\/p>\n

These tests verified that the printer was ready for manufacturing operations.<\/p>\n

On November 24, ground controllers sent the printer the command to make the first printed part: a faceplate of the extruder’s casing.<\/p>\n

This demonstrated that the printer can make replacement parts for itself, NASA said.<\/p>\n

The 3-D printer uses a process formally known as additive manufacturing to heat a relatively low-temperature plastic filament and extrude it one layer at a time to build the part defined in the design file sent to the machine.<\/p>\n

Wilmore then removed the part from the printer and inspected it. Part adhesion on the tray was stronger than anticipated, which could mean layer bonding is different in microgravity, a question the team will investigate as future parts are printed.<\/p>\n

Wilmore installed a new print tray, and the ground team sent a command to fine-tune the printer alignment and printed a third calibration coupon. When Wilmore removes the calibration coupon, the ground team will be able to command the printer to make a second object.<\/p>\n

The results from this first print are contributing to a better understanding about the parameters to use when 3-D printing on the space station.<\/p>\n

“This is the first time we’ve ever used a 3-D printer in space, and we are learning, even from these initial operations,” Werkheiser said.<\/p>\n

“As we print more parts we’ll be able to learn whether some of the effects we are seeing are caused by microgravity or just part of the normal fine-tuning process for printing. When we get the parts back on Earth, we’ll be able to do a more detailed analysis to find out how they compare to parts printed on Earth,” said Werkheiser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world’s first zero-gravity 3D printer on the International Space Station (ISS) has created the first object made using additive manufacturing, paving the way for future long-term space expeditions. “This … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[10,11,12,13,14,16],"class_list":["post-8788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-club","tag-international-space-station","tag-iss","tag-nasa","tag-nasa-creates-first-3d","tag-nasa-creates-first-3d-printed-object-in-space","tag-space","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generalknowledgetoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}