{"id":55024,"date":"2023-10-20T16:29:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T16:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/the-future-of-3d-printing-lies-in-space-and-with-an-extra-dimension-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T16:29:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T16:29:43","slug":"the-future-of-3d-printing-lies-in-space-and-with-an-extra-dimension-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/the-future-of-3d-printing-lies-in-space-and-with-an-extra-dimension-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of 3D printing lies in space and with an extra dimension – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The concept and use of 3D printing is now well established<\/a>, with a large selection of printers available today, ranging from your low-price small 3D units for home to the larger and more robust industrial printers.<\/p>\n


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The technology itself has also evolved and is now being implemented in a vast range of industries from food<\/a> to automotive<\/a>, aerospace<\/a>, construction<\/a>, health<\/a> and many others.<\/p>\n

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There are still a few things holding back 3D printing from any mass production over other manufacturing methods, but it is the technology\u2019s application beyond Earth that it is showing real promise.<\/p>\n

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The 3D printing space race<\/h2>\n

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The American space company SpaceX<\/a> last year sent a Dragon capsule<\/a> to the International Space Station (ISS<\/a>) which carried the first ever zero-G 3D printer.<\/p>\n

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Made In Space 3D printer.<\/span> Flickr\/NASA Marshall Space Flight Center<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The printer, developed by Made In Space<\/a>, was built under a joint partnership with NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center<\/a> and was launched in September 2014.<\/p>\n

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The need to keep an on-going supply chain from Earth to the space mission makes space development expensive and slow. 3D printers in space allow astronauts to manufacture what they need on-site and on-demand. The ISS astronauts demonstrated this when they 3D-printed 14 objects<\/a> \u2013 including a wrench \u2013 and sent them back to Earth for testing.<\/p>\n

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Ratchet wrench printed on the ISS.<\/span> Flickr\/NASA Marshall Space Flight Center<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Made In Space developed 3D printing technology that is able to function in an environment with micro-gravity, similar to the one on the ISS. The company\u2019s first printer is a prototype that uses ABS<\/a> plastic material and has a relatively small work envelope (5cm by 10cm by 5cm).<\/p>\n

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NASA is also investigating 3D printing in space<\/a> for future exploration missions. It is currently developing 3D-printers that could use the grit that blows across the surface of Mars to make bricks to build shelters. It is experimenting on Earth with materials similar to Martian sand as ink to 3D-print building structures.<\/p>\n

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The European Space Agency (ESA<\/a>) is also conducting research for a mission to the moon using lunar dust as an ink to attempt to 3D-print an entire moon base. It is already able to print out stone-like building blocks<\/a> weighing 1.5 tonnes each.<\/p>\n

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3D printing is also being used to manufacture rockets to take astronauts on their missions. New Zealand-based company Rocket Lab<\/a> this year unveiled plans to reduce the average launch costs by 95%<\/a> by using 3D printing for all primary components of their engine.<\/p>\n

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The parts are 3D-printed<\/a> using titanium alloys and can be manufactured withing days, instead of months using conventional manufacturing techniques.<\/p>\n

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Another dimension: 4D printing<\/h2>\n

If 3D printing wasn\u2019t enough, 4D-printing was introduced at a TED Conference<\/a> in 2013 by Skylar Tibbits<\/a>, director of MIT\u2019s Self-Assembly Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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