Now’s your chance to send a bit of yourself into space! NASA is hosting a GrabCAD competition to design a handrail clamp assembly (HCA) for The International Space Station, to be 3D printed on the currently installed Made In Space Zero Gravity Printer and used by the ISS crew.
Open from now until February 17, the NASA Handrail Clamp Assembly Challenge is seeking designs for a complementary HCA now used as a rigid mounting device by astronauts in microgravity. Referred to as the CHAMP (for Handrail with Additively Manufactured Parts), the device will both help NASA better understand microgravity’s effect on FDM 3D printing, while providing the folks on the ISS with a practical tool. The CHAMP will be attached to the handrail running throughout the ISS, providing a method for attaching clamps for a variety of purposes.
The criteria for the winning CHAMP design include such factors as total material usage, number of prints to complete the CHAMP, how easily it can be attached to and removed from the ISS handrail, how stable the CHAMP attaches to the handrail, and a number of other specs listed on the GrabCAD challenge page. If your design meets all of these criteria, not only do you have a shot at winning $2,000, but you could get your design on the ISS! That alone is enough reason to enter the contest and, with the dough, you can buy yourself a new 3D printer. Submit between now and February 17 and find out if you’ll be the Champ of the CHAMP challenge on March, 17.
