3D Printer Arrives at International Space Station
After the 3D printing era has begun on Earth, astronauts are now preparing to bring one of these printers to the International Space Station, so that in the future, they won’t have to crank out spare parts in order to fix their spacecraft. Instead, they will simply print the part they need.
Produced by a Northern California company called Made in Space, the 3D printer will be sent to the International Space station aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, together with 5,000 pounds of space station cargo, departing on Sunday.
Apart from the replacement parts that NASA envisions astronauts creating at the International Space Station, they hope to be able to create entire habitats in the decades ahead, on faraway destinations such as Mars. As Jeff Sheehy, NASA Senior technologist told reporters on Friday, if the U.S. would set shop on Mars, it would be ridiculously expensive to bring everything with us. Instead, he hopes that astronauts would reach a point where they can simply make the things that they need.