3D Printing and Space seem to be completely intertwined – and that’s a very good thing. We’ve talked before about NASA’s efforts to get printers on the station, but they certainly aren’t the only ones working on the concept.
Printing Metal
Image credit GizMag
As mentioned previously, it takes a lot of power to send something into space. For small tools like hammers, that extra power isn’t a lot, although it’s still enough to be concerned about. But when it comes to sending up a satellite, the power needed can be extremely prohibitive.
Enter AMAZE, an intergovernmental project aimed at printing high-quality metal objects in, you guessed it, outer space. NASA’s printer will likely use plastics to create its objects, which severely limits the available functionality. But if the AMAZE project keeps moving in the right direction, there could be a fully functional, factory-quality printer on the space station some time in the near future.
The project has around $26 million in funding, and an entire team of academics working to help it succeed. The goal is to create zero waste manufacturing for metal objects, which would drastically reduce the cost of nearly any item you can think of. It also means that rare materials like niobium or platinum can be used in the manufacturing process; if nothing is getting wasted, those components suddenly look a lot more affordable.
But the zero-waste part of the project isn’t the only cool part. In order to create the kinds of materials needed, AMAZE has set up four different manufacturing facilities across Europe – one each in Germany, Norway, Italy, and the UK. Each facility prints using a different method, and together they’ve created a supply chain that can produce anything they need and let them test every method.
Good for More than the Stars
The innovations from the AMAZE project will definitely help streamline printing in space. However, they will also help streamline printing back here on Earth, too. If truly zero waste manufacturing can be developed, costs will go down on all kinds of everyday projects. And if metal printing can become more streamlined, the variety of items you can order will increase.
Popular media often focuses on the more domestic uses of 3D printing, but the technology has so much more potential behind it. Yes, you can create small, plastic items, and they’re still pretty cool. But with the right equipment, you can also think as big as the stars.