Made In Space continues to create off-Earth manufacturing milestones.
The Florida-based company has just built its first ceramic piece in orbit, 3D printing a one-piece turbine “blisk” (short for “disc bladed”) on board. International Space Station (ISS).
“This is an exciting milestone in space production and signals the potential for new markets that could stimulate commercial activity in Earth’s low orbit,” said Made In Space President Tom Campbell. he said in a statement last week.
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The blisk and a few simpler test items were made by the Made In Space Ceramic Manufacturing Module (CMM), which arrived at the space station aboard the Northrop Grumman robot. Cygnus cargo vehicle in October.
Microwave-sized CMMs make parts by “stereolithography”, which uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser and a UV-curable resin. This 3D printing technique can produce complex objects, such as turbines with a high degree of precision, Made In Space representatives said.
CMM is a search system, a machine designed to demonstrate that complex and economically important ceramic components can be manufactured in microgravity for use here on Earth. And Made In Space believes that there are good reasons to take the manufacture of such objects off the planet.
“Manufacturing microgravity turbine components could produce parts with better performance, including higher strength and lower residual stress, due to reduced defects caused by gravity, such as sedimentation and gradients of the composition,” company officials wrote. CMM description last September. “This technology demonstrates the potential use of the space station for unique production capacity, which could increase the commercial use of the ISS.”
The blisk and coupons will return to Earth for inspection and testing next month aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule – the one that just arrived at the ISS on December 7.
Made In Space, a subsidiary of space solutions company Redwire, had already launched four machines on the ISS before CMM – a search 3D printer, a commercial 3D printer called the Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF), a commercial polymer recycler and a device that manufactures high value fiber optics ZBLAN.
The recycler is designed to turn plastic bags and other rubbish into “raw materials” that can be used by the MFA printer. Both cars are still in operation on the ISS. The ZBLAN project is also ongoing; investigates the feasibility of making ZBLAN in orbit and selling it here. (ZBLAN has the potential to be far superior to traditional silica-based fiber optics, but gravity-induced imperfections make things difficult to manufacture on Earth, Made In Space representatives said).
Made In Space is working on other more ambitious projects. Last year, NASA awarded the company $ 73.7 million to offer its spacecraft platform, known as Archinaut, a test in Earth orbit. The Archinaut One demonstration mission could be launched on a Rocket Lab Electron amplifier immediately after 2022.
Mike Wall is the author of “There“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.