3D Printing
Space exploration is perhaps mankind’s most glorious achievement. Not only have we as a species scrambled out of the jungles of Africa, strapped ourselves into metal tubes and fired ourselves off to the surface of the moon, but we have also sent the Voyager space probe into interstellar space, over 12 billion miles away, to live out its days in the truly unknown.
The thread that links the emergence of modern humans and their eventual exploration of the vast, unfathomable darkness beyond the outer limits of the Earth’s atmosphere is our ability to conceive of technological solutions to the problems we see around us.
3D printing is going to be the next technological solution that is going to allow us to solve some of the logistical and technical problems of space exploration. Although 3D (or “additive”) printing already has a wide variety of applications for the earthbound members of our species, it is with regards to space travel where the technology has perhaps its most transformative potential.
So just how is the future of 3D printing linked to our ability to wander amongst the stars?
NASA and 3D Printing
A number of space agencies, principally NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), have been conducting experiments into the feasibility of using 3D printing technology both on Earth and in space. Excitingly, these experiments are beginning to bear fruit in a number of distinct ways.
In August this year, NASA publicly announced that it had for the first time successfully integrated a component printed by a 3D printer into one of its rocket designs. The component in question was an injector, which is responsible for delivering key chemicals to the engine and providing the thrust that is needed to get the rocket off the ground and into space. The Agency reported that the component, produced through a ‘selective laser melting’ process that built up layer upon layer of nickel-chromium powder, was able to produce ten times more thrust then previous attempts.
This is not the only way that NASA intends to use 3D printing. A month later the agency officially announced that they were planning to a launch an additive printer into space in 2014. If the technology survives the substantial vibrations of take-off, the microwave oven sized printer will do its thing in the relatively stable confines of the International Space Station.
These efforts are being matched by The Amaze Project that has been initiated by the ESA. This project is concerned with trying to nail down the ability to print out space-quality metal components with ease. To say that the ESA has its sights set high is an understatement; the agency envisages this technology being key to self-producing space stations that print themselves out piece by piece. This aligns with NASA’s long term goal of building an orbiting factory (creepily named SpiderFab) that will use additive printing methods to create gigantic structures up to a mile long.
So, apart from the mind-bending awesomeness of space stations that create themselves, just what are the benefits of utilising 3D printing for space travel?
Food
The food that is currently available to astronauts is functionally nutritional to say the least. We have all seen the toothpaste tubes or processed meat and chocolate sauce that Gagarin lived off in the 1960s, but modern space food is surprisingly sophisticated. Having said that, it is still impossible to store and transport a large and varied diet.
This is where 3D printing comes in. NASA have recently demonstrated a working model of a printer that is capable of printing out slices of pizza (although, admittedly it can only create a strange sounding cream-cheese variety). As this technology advances, it will most likely mean that astronauts can enjoy a diet as varied as they would on Earth. The only potential problem is ensuring the nutritional content of the printed food.
Tools and other Materials
Space exploration can be a dangerous activity that sometimes requires astronauts to think on their feet to avoid perishing in the icy depths of the upper layers of our atmosphere. A famous example of this is the ad-hoc carbon dioxide filter that the Apollo 13 crew had to construct using gaffer tape, a plastic bag and a manual cover in order to survive.
3D printing should theoretically have allowed the Apollo 13 crew to print out the component parts they needed without having to resort to such drastic forms of DIY. If the aims of The Amaze Project are realised, astronauts in the near future will be able to print out metal tools and components in order to perform repairs and upgrades as and when they are needed.
Operational Adaptability
This all means that future space missions will theoretically have a degree of operational flexibility that previous forays into the heavens have lacked. In the past, because you had to lug up all your equipment from the Earth, there was a limited range of objectives that could be completed at any one time. But if food, tools, components and even new structures can be constructed on an ad hoc basis, there will be a potentially much broader range of activities that can be undertaken by a single space flight.
Reducing costs
In the long term it is hoped that the integration of 3D printing with space travel will significantly reduce the cost of putting people into space and exploring the solar system. At the present time it is an incredibly expensive proposition to send a crew of people and all of the equipment and food necessary to keep them alive into space.
A great example of the potential savings that could be made through the implementation of 3D printing can be found in the 3D printed rocket component tested by NASA mentioned above. Injectors that are constructed in the traditional way wold usually cost the agency about $10,000 each and 6 months in labor time. By contrast, the printed version cost around $5,000 and took a matter of weeks to complete.
It is hoped that these costs will be reduced further as the technology becomes more widespread commercially on Earth.
What Does this mean for Space Travel?
The possibilities created by the merging of 3D printing and space travel have many people drooling in anticipation over their keyboards, at the thought that the fevered dreams of Sci-Fi writers might be about to be realised. While NASA itself invites caution over proclaiming 3D printing to be the technological leap that sends us boldly where no one has gone before, there is no denying the potentially transformative power of this technology.
The basic conclusion is that we will be able to go further into the depths in a much more efficient way then we are currently able to. 3D printing will allow space flights to carry many times more supplies and be far more adaptable to external factors than ever before.
But it is the potential conclusions based on what 3D printing may be capable of in the near future that have been exciting people much more. Whether you believe that this is the first stage in mankind’s journey towards the “colonisation” of space, with 3D printers allowing brave pioneers and their printed out robot assistants to construct habitable structures using nothing but the soil of alien worlds, you would have to be a pessimist in the extreme to not admit that something pretty special is going on here.
3D printing is going to present mankind with some fascinating and exciting possibilities to explore and discover the universe around us. What do you think of all this, the impending onset of a sci-fi future or a load of hype?
James Duval is a freelance IT worker who writes blogs about technology in between periods of gazing up at the stars. He is a regular contributor to GKBC as well as a number of other sites, such as Printer Basics.
