Another historic first! Today, Mike Chen of Made In Space and his colleagues 3D-printed a ratcheting socket wrench on the International Space Station.
“We had overheard ISS Commander Barry Wilmore (who goes by “Butch”) mention over the radio that he needed one,” according to Chen’s post about the event in Medium. They designed the part on the NASA Ames campus in CAD (in this case, most likely Autodesk Inventor), and converted it to gcode. They sent the gcode to NASA using a combination of NASA and Made In Space software, and NASA sent it to the International Space Station from their Huntsville Operations Support Center. The 3D printer received the code for the part, located in the Microgravity Science Glovebox located in the Columbus laboratory module of the ISS, and printd it out on the space station.
“The socket wrench we just manufactured is the first object we designed on the ground and sent digitally to space, on the fly,” writes Chen.
Made In Space built the first 3D printer for microgravity, and it was sent up to the ISS in September. By the end of the first month, astronauts had 3D-printed a replacement faceplate for the printer’s casing.
Perfecting 3D printing in space could alter future space exploration significantly by giving astronauts and on-demand option to fix, repair or create custom parts and tools for routine or unexpected situations.
As we move further into our solar system, the ability to 3D print custom parts tools and even shelter could eventually cut our species loose from its dependence on the resources of planet Earth. Yet that imaginable possibility seems so far away…
What material are they printing with?
ABS Plastic
Yeah, that’s what I use; I wondered about the emitted gasses and how they’d be removed form the station. The temperature issues of PLA warping wouldn’t be such a big issue on the ISS where its climate-controlled, so I hadn’t ruled out PLA. Thanks for clearing it up! 🙂
Stories like this are prime examples of why many of us are so excited about the future of 3D printing. Imagine the day when you send your niece a custom Christmas gift via email because 3D printers are as common as microwave ovens. As a tax funded entity, I hope NASA sets a precedent by posting the source files for items they design on the web for enthusiasts to print out as mementos.
I for one would love to print a copy of the rachet and socket they printed. Not even to use, but for the cool value. Okay, I’d use it, too 🙂
Me, too!
Found it! With a bunch of other cool NASA 3D printable things (nothing so cool as a tool though). Linky: http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/wrench-mis
Spock would be proud. The first true test of the Replicator in Space.