Astronauts have successfully used a European Space Agency / Airbus-built Metal 3D Printer on the International Space Station (ISS). In the newly released video, we can see a small s-curve being deposited in liquefied stainless steel, a feat that took place last Thursday, aboard ESA’s Columbus laboratory module.
Its design is essentially based on stainless-steel wire being fed into the printing area, which is then super heated by a high-power laser, around a million times time more powerful than a standard laser pointer. As the wire dips into the melt pool, the end melts so that metal is added to the print. Even more impressive is the fact that the entire print process is overseen entirely from the ground. Astronauts simply have to open a nitrogen and venting valve before the printing starts.
- One-Click Automatic Printing: Experience hassle-free 3D printing with the Adventurer 5M Series. Enjoy automatic bed leveling for flawless first...
- 12X Ultra Fast Printing: Featuring a CoreXY structure with 600mm/s travel speed and 20000mm/s² acceleration, the AD5M maximizes efficiency, reduces...
- Smart and Efficient Design: Quick 3-second nozzle changes, a high-flow 32mm³/s nozzle, and fast 35-second warm-up to 200°C deliver stable high-speed...
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,” said Rob Postema, ESA technical officer.
