Posted on 12/21/2014 1:25:28 PM PST by shove_it
For the first time ever, hardware designed on the ground has been emailed to space to meet the needs of an astronaut. From a computer in California, Mike Chen of Made In Space and colleagues just 3D-printed a ratcheting socket wrench on the International Space Station. “We had overheard ISS Commander Barry Wilmore (who goes by “Butch”) mention over the radio that he needed one,” Chen writes in Medium this week. So they designed one and sent it up.
“The socket wrench we just manufactured is the first object we designed on the ground and sent digitally to space, on the fly,” he adds. It’s a lot faster to send data wirelessly on demand than to wait for a physical object to arrive via rockets, which can take months or even years.
The team started by designing the tool on a computer, then converting it into a 3D-printer-ready format. That’s then sent to NASA, which transmits the wrench to the space station. Once the code is received by the 3D printer, the wrench is manufactured: Plastic filament is heated and extruded layer by layer. The ISS tweeted this photo earlier this week, and you can see more pictures of the very cool wrench-printing process here.
Located on the campus of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Made In Space built the first 3D printer for microgravity, and it was launched to the ISS in September. Within a month, the astronauts 3D-printed their first object: a replacement faceplate for the printer’s casing (pictured below)...
(Excerpt) Read more at iflscience.com ...
Scheme is to do this for aircraft parts on carriers.
Reduce inventory.
Need 3d parts to meet flight certified criteria, however.
Of possible interest.
A wench?
The concept goes way back. On wooden ships,ship carpenters made things, and did repairs from planks of wood. Modern ships carry machine shops. It makes even more sense in space — given the cost of lifting spare parts to orbit.
3-D printing combined with asteroid mining could be the genesis of a great leap in human space flight.
How about a wrench wench?
That’s nice.
When can I print a new pair of custom ski boots?
Indeed, VERY COOL!!
This is revolutionary technology!!! I can’t wait to see how it will apply to firearms components!
I expect governments/TPTB will look to regulate the hell out of this, as it will threaten their very existence in many ways.
Don’t you need metal for some tools?
Yeppers. You could 3d print satellites (for Earth and other planets), space-based manufacturing facilities, space stations, manned space vehicles to explore the solar system, etc., etc.
3-D printing will eventually evolve to become the "transporter" that we see on those Star Trek shows. Rather than creating a copy of an object from ones and zeros, you will be able to render the genuine article into ones and zeros that can then be sent (at speed of light) to be re-assembled at a far-distant portal.
Likely not in our lifetimes but this is where the technology is heading.
Well, they are behind the curve considering that loads of illegal data and such regularly slips past government hands, yeah, despite copyright laws, the government is about as effective at controlling Internet data streams as they are out national borders.
Next order: One T-bone. Medium rare.
Ah yes - instead of the Blue Angels," you'll have plastic Flying Flamingos.
Yeah...email me a beer!
Just like the Jetsons cartoon, dial it in, and presto, the product is there.
3D printing means to cut out an object, totally turning energy into complex living matter and vice versa is light years away from safe. While Einstein may not be completely right about the speed of light to some people, it still takes demonstratably a large quantity of energy to form miniscule quantities of matter, and that energy is usually really intense and deadly, such as gamma rays.
You brought up a question I have about the rage about 3D printing. Only in a virtual world with metrosexuals that really don’t do any hard work, PLASTIC is only good for toys and fake flowers.
Oh heck this is probably as good as the Ruski or Chinese metal tools they have on-board.
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