The ESA is 3D printing metal objects on the ISS!

[thewayne]

This is not just pretty cool, but quite awesome!

There have been 3D printers on the ISS for about a decade now. Earlier this year, the European Space Agency sent up a METAL 3D printer and have been working with it for a few hours a day, to see what's possible in the microgravity environment of the ISS. The printer is limited, of course, to objects about the size of a can of soda. This is, after all, an experiment. They'll print a layer, do all sorts of analysis on it, then print another. Once they're done with their experiment, the samples will be returned to Earth for all sorts of additional analysis.

The objective? Circular recycling! The ultimate concept is to be able to capture and reuse some of the satellites in space. Figuring out if they can successfully print new parts is one aspect of this program. To some degree, capturing space objects has been demonstrated. The thing that bothers me is the labor involved in safely dismantling a whatever and then the energy costs to reduce it into whatever is needed to feed an industrial-sized 3D metal printer.

The emphasis on safety because the USA and Russia are careful to vent fuel and discharge batteries on rocket boosters after they have completed their missions. Currently, the Chinese do not. I do not know about other nations that have entered the NEO industrial age.

SpaceX, of course, tries to take their empties home with 'em. And I give 'em big props for that.

There's a photo in The Register article that shows the objects they have printed thus far. They look like decent amateur lathe work. Then you realize they're not screwed to the base plate, they're BUILT THERE.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/06/esa_metal_3d_printing/

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/09/06/2225225/esa-prints-3d-metal-shape-in-space-for-first-time

Comments

[silveradept]

Pretty neat idea, and if the process can be both left to its own devices and able to make bigger parts, it would certainly be useful for either doing repairs on satellites, or decommissioning them and recycling them into more useful materials. Certainly a better idea than letting all of the Starlink junk just hang out there and not have their resources reused for better purposes.

[thewayne]

Theoretically the Starlink satellites will deorbit themselves (between propellant and LEO atmospheric drag), but that leaves the question of their vaporized metals lingering in the upper atmosphere and what it may do to our air and weather long-term!

[silveradept]

Vaporization is certainly a thing, but if it could be collected and recycled, I feel like it would do more good that way than letting all the metals hang out in the atmosphere for however long.

[thewayne]

Absolutely agree.  But then the Muskbrat would be all paranoid about 'our sekrit stuffs!' being leaked, or so I would expect.

[disneydream06]

It's freaky all the things I hear about 3D printers doing or possibly doing. :o
Hugs, Jon

[madamoiselle_sambuca]

3D printing always has interested me. I find it bizarre but fascinating.

[thewayne]

It's amazing tech.  I'd love to have a 3D printer, but it would sit around gathering dust, I have too many interests.  And they have problems: micro-particle pollution and potentially toxic ingredients in the filament.  There were some aquatic researchers studying a certain species of fish, and they needed an instrument placed in their study tank, so they 3D printed a part to hold the probe in a particular location.  And some time later, the fish began mutating!  Some chemical in the plastic filament was mutagenic!  Now, we probably don't eat with thing we 3D print, but it is kind of concerning.

[madamoiselle_sambuca]

And some time later, the fish began mutating!  Some chemical in the plastic filament was mutagenic
o.O

[thewayne]

Yeah.  Now, 3D metal printing, completely different tech.

[madamoiselle_sambuca]

You can print metal now??? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ o.O