{"id":783468,"date":"2024-06-04T17:44:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T22:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=783468"},"modified":"2024-06-04T17:44:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T22:44:07","slug":"first-metal-3d-printing-on-international-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=783468","title":{"rendered":"First metal 3D printing on International Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"
One small s-curve deposited in liquefied stainless steel equals a giant leap forward for in-orbit manufacturing: This is the very first metal 3D printing aboard the International Space Station, which took place last Thursday, aboard ESA’s Columbus laboratory module.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n<\/section>\n
“This S-curve is a test line, successfully concluding the commissioning of our Metal 3D Printer,” explains ESA technical officer Rob Postema.<\/p>\n
“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 Defense and Space SAS, the CADMOS User Support Center in France, from which print operations are overseen from the ground, as well as our own ESA team.”<\/p>\n
S\u00e9bastien Girault, part of the team at consortium leader Airbus adds, “We’re very happy to have performed the very first metal 3D printing aboard the ISS\u2014the quality is as good as we could dream.”<\/p>\n
The Metal 3D Printer technology demonstrator has been developed by an industrial team led by Airbus under contract to ESA’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration.<\/p>\n
It reached the ISS back in January. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen then installed the approximately 180-kg payload in the European Draw Rack Mark II, part of ESA’s Columbus module.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n