ESA
S-curve is a test line 3D printed on the International Space Station
The European Space Agency (ESA) has declared an additive manufacturing (AM) first as a 'a giant leap forward for in-orbit manufacturing' after a successful first metal 3D print was completed aboard the International Space Station last week.
The S-curve test line was printed aboard ESA’s Columbus laboratory module using a metal 3D printer technology demonstrator developed by a team led by project co-funder Airbus under contract to ESA’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration.
"The success of this first print, along with other reference lines, leaves us ready to print full parts in the near future," ESA technical officer Rob Postema commented. "We’ve reached this point thanks to the hard efforts of the industrial team led by Airbus Defence and Space SAS, the CADMOS User Support Centre in France, from which print operations are overseen from the ground, as well as our own ESA team."
Sébastien Girault, part of the team at consortium leader Airbus added: “We’re very happy to have performed the very first metal 3D printing aboard the ISS – the quality is as good as we could dream!”
The project, known as "Metal3D", began in 2016 when the ESA awarded the contract to Airbus Defence & Space. While polymer 3D printers have been on board the ISS and printing parts since 2014, when this metal technology arrived on board the ISS in January, the aim was to 'create the first metal 3D printer to operate under microgravity.'
The metal 3D printer uses a direct energy deposition (DED) process whereby stainless-steel wire is heated by a high-power laser. It operates within a fully sealed box, preventing excess heat or fumes from escaping. The process is overseen entirely from the ground so that all onboard crew have to do is open a nitrogen and venting valve before the printing starts.
ESA materials engineer Advenit Makaya from the ESA’s Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, said: “Two of these printed parts will be analysed in the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory at ESTEC in the Netherlands, to help us understand whether prolonged microgravity has an effect on the printing of metallic materials. The other two will go to the European Astronaut Centre and the Technical University of Denmark, DTU.”
Four shapes have been chosen for subsequent full-scale 3D printing, which will later be returned to Earth to be compared with reference prints made on the ground.
ESA has further ambitions to create a circular space economy which will use recycled materials found in orbit, such as old satellites, and turn them into new tools or structures. The idea is to eliminate the need to send tools and parts with a rocket by allowing astronauts to print parts in orbit.
