For the first time, NASA will place parts made on 3D printers on manned ship

The invention of 3D printers has opened a number of possibilities for men, who can employ technology in building everything from entire homes to vital organs for our bodies. NASA will now use system-printed parts for the first time on a spacecraft designed to take crews on space missions.

In a partnership between US space agency Stratasys, Phoenix Analysis & Design and Lockheed Martin, more than 100 components will be printed to be part of Orion, a spacecraft designed for future manned missions to the moon, Mars and asteroids. that roam our solar system.

“There are no stricter safety requirements than we employ in vehicles designed to keep our astronauts safe and sound in space. This is a great demonstration of how this technology has advanced and may be increasingly important in the future, ”said Scott Sevcik, vice president of Stratasys.

Engineers are primarily concerned with the strength of the materials used, which must withstand extreme temperatures so that they do not melt or freeze. At the same time, the parts must be able to withstand the numerous chemical elements present in the space without cracking or gas release that could compromise the safety of the ship.

The material chosen was ANTERO 800NA, a thermoplastic that, in addition to meeting the requirements already mentioned, does not accumulate electrical charge on its surface, which is another key factor for future planned missions to be successful and not suffer from interference. static.

But why use parts made on 3D printers? According to Sevcik, technology allows for greater freedom in component design, particularly design, and is still more economically cost-effective than other traditional aerospace engineering methods.

“We have the freedom to create every part of scratch. We can create parts with the shapes and weights we want, unlike other technologies, such as injection molding tools, which are only effective when used in large-scale production, ”explained the vice president of Stratasys.

Orion already has an unmanned test flight scheduled for December 2019, when it will orbit the moon. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will move to the next phase of the program, when it will be responsible for taking astronauts to other space exploration missions. From 2020, the vehicle is expected to be used to build a new space station that will be managed by the United States, the European Union, Russia, Japan and Canada.

For the first time, NASA will place parts made on 3D printers on manned spacecraft via TecMundo