I want to know what the difficulties are with 3d printing while in space. In my head one of the easiest ways to augment a space mission is to have a 3d printer as a tool in your space station and then have engineers on earth who design 3d printable solutions to problems they face up there. I imagine that 3d printing in 0g is very different to 1g though.
I want to know what the difficulties are with 3d printing while in space
Not really any, to be honest. You can print upside down, or hanging from a ceiling at a weird angle and swinging around on earth already. But that’s plastics.
Metals? Those are fine powders that you absolutely do not want floating around a space station, it would need to be in a separate compartment. Also, you’d have to get the material up there to begin with, and it’s heavy.
I want to know what the difficulties are with 3d printing while in space. In my head one of the easiest ways to augment a space mission is to have a 3d printer as a tool in your space station and then have engineers on earth who design 3d printable solutions to problems they face up there. I imagine that 3d printing in 0g is very different to 1g though.
Not really any, to be honest. You can print upside down, or hanging from a ceiling at a weird angle and swinging around on earth already. But that’s plastics.
Metals? Those are fine powders that you absolutely do not want floating around a space station, it would need to be in a separate compartment. Also, you’d have to get the material up there to begin with, and it’s heavy.