3D Printing in Zero-G Experiment Fact Sheet

MEDIA CONTACT

Grant Lowery

Made in Space

650
-
701
-
7722

grant@madeinspace.us




3D Printing in Zero
-
G Experiment

Fact Sheet


About 3D
Printing in Zero
-
G Experiment:




NASA
–

Made In Space Contract
:

The 3D Printing in Zero
-
G Experiment
(3D Print
)
is
bei
ng developed under a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract

with

NASA

Marshall Space
Flight Center

(
MSF
C
)
.




3D Print Team at Made in Space:
The executive team at Made in Space
consisting of
Jason Dunn (Project Manager/Co
-
Principle Investigator), Michael Snyder (Lead Design
Engineer/Co
-
Principle Investigator), and Matthew Napoli (Safety and Quality Assurance)
.





3D Print
Team at NASA:
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) ha
s teamed up
with Made in Space to build the 3D Printing in Zero
-
G Experiment. The
executive
team
at MSFC consist
s

of Niki Werkheiser (Project Manager), Terri Tramel (COTR), and Ken
Cooper (
Co
-
Principle Investigator)
.




Goal of 3D Print:

The 3D Print experim
ent will test
the effects of long
-
duration micro
-
gravity on 3D printing. NASA MSFC tested 3D printing in a short
-
duration microgravity
environment in 1999, and Made in Space later confirmed their results by also testing 3D
printers in microgravity in 2011.




3D Printing Technology:

Made in Space tested a variety of 3D printing technologies,
from extrusion 3D printing, to
laser
-
based

3D printing
, to space
-
qualified polymers and
robotic assembly. Made in Space’s 3D Printing in Zero
-
G and the
Additive
Manufacturing
Facility

are both extrusion
-
based printer.




How the 3D

P
rint

Works:

Up to 20 different
parts will

be printed from

computer aided
design files loaded on the printer at launch. Additional parts will be uplinked from earth
while in orbit on the
station.




Benefits of 3D Printing for ISS:
3D printing
will dramatically reduce the time it takes to
get parts to orbit. Current space missions take months to years

to get to orbit
, whereas
3D printing can build parts within minutes to hours on
-
demand. 3D printing
can
also
cut
down
the
cost of manufacturing by optimizing parts for space and limit
ing

the need to
stockpile parts. This can also alleviate a lot of structural and geometr
ical constraints
caused by launch loads and vehicle stowage requirements.
Future printers will also have
the capability to build large structures in orbit.




Launch Date:

3D Print
is manifested on

the

Space X
-
5 commercial rocket scheduled to
launch August 2014. This will be the first device to manufacture parts off Earth.




3D

P
rint

on ISS:
The 3D

Print

will operate in the Microgravity Science Glovebox on the
ISS.





Future Plans
:

Key parts of the 3D Printing in Zero
-
G Experiment will feed in another
printer Made in Space will be sending up later in 2016 to the ISS via the NanoRacks
platform, termed the Additive Manufacturing Facility
.




The Additive Manufacturing Facility:

Key part
s of the 3D Printing in Zero
-
G Experiment
will feed in
to

another printer Made in Space will be sending up later in 2016 to the ISS
via the NanoRacks platform, termed the Additive Manufacturing Facility

(AMF).
The
AMF

is currently being designed under a Pha
se II SBIR contract expected to launch in
2016.




Made in Space Zero
-
G Test:

Made in Space tested several custom and commercial 3D
printers in zero
-
gravity in 2011 and is planning to do more tests later

this

year. These
microgravity tests provided the initi
al science that fed into the technological
developments for the 3D Printing in Zero
-
G Experiment. With over 400 parabolas, 2
hours of total microgravity time, including 0g, lunar g, and martian g
,

Made in Space
has
unique experience for 3D printing in micr
ogravity environments.




Robust Printers

for Remote Locations
:

Made in Space’s printers will be

also

useful in
remote environments like submarines, aircraft carriers, remote war zones, remote
research labs (
such as
Antarctica).



About Made in Space




About

Made in Space:

Founded in 2010 by Aaron Kemmer

(CEO)
, Jason Dunn

(CTO)

and
Michael Chen.
Founders met at Singularity University with the goal to find a company
that would
radically impact how we do

space

missions today
.




Made in Space’s Vision:
Made in
Space envisions a future where space missions can
manufacture the parts, tools, and eventually even structures in space with 3D printing
technologies.




Made in Space

2010

Strategy
:

In 2010, the com
pany laid out its three initials goals at
the Space Manufacturing conference at NASA Ames:

1)
Test all the appropriate 3D

printing
technologies for

space,

2)

further test them
in microgravity, and 3) fly a 3D
printer to the ISS. The first two have been accomplished, and the last one is being
accomplished under the 3DP experiment.




Key
Team Members and Advisors
:

Made in Space has over 20 people involved in the
company, including

successful entrepreneurs (Aaron Kemmer,
Mike

Chen, Jason Lam,
Jason Dunn, Alison Lewis)
,

experienced space experts (3
-
time astronaut Dan Barry,
Mission Lead
Mike
Snyder,
Nanoracks CTO Mike Johnson
, Planetary Resources Chairman
Peter
Diamandis
)
, and key 3D

printing experts (
Avi Reichental

of 3D Systems and
Scott
Summit

of 3D Systems
, Gonzalo Martinez

of Autodesk
).




Unique Innovation Lab:

has done over 20,000+ hours of testing of v
arious 3D printing
technologies