Sept. 21, 2017Two for the Crew 3-D Design Challenge Seeks Students to Invent Multi-Use ToolsThis fall, NASA and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Foundation are challenging students to use their ingenuity to create a helpful tool that combines the functions of two objects being used by crew aboard the International Space Station. The national Future Engineers Two for the Crew Challenge provides an exciting opportunity for K-12 students to develop an innovative model intended to be 3-D printed by astronauts on the orbiting laboratory. Students will invent multi-use tools and customized equipment that can help astronauts with maintenance, medical, trash management, and the challenge of securing and storing items in microgravity.Human exploration of the solar system is currently limited by the need to carry consumables, replace systems and parts, and use available materials. This is why building and maintaining things in space will be important for future missions. Students will learn about the advantages of in-space manufacturing and customization. This means that crew members can print items when they are needed, including specific parts for the unique space station environment.Participants will explore concepts like mass and volume, while learning engineering and 3-D design skills. Submissions from K-12 students in the United States will be accepted online through Dec. 19 at www.futureengineers.org/twoforthecrew.Winners will be announced on March 14, 2018.The Two for the Crew Challenge is free for student participation. The challenge website provides educational information about space station crew tools and brainstorming resources that help students get started with creating their designs. The site also provides links to free 3-D design software.Two for the Crew is the sixth in a series of space innovation challenges developed by Future Engineers and the ASME Foundation, with technical assistance from NASA.
Aug. 28, 2017Full Circle: NASA to Demonstrate Refabricator to Recycle, Reuse, RepeatIn 2014, NASA made important progress toward the in-space manufacturing necessary for deep space exploration by “printing” tools in space using a 3-D printer on the International Space Station.In 2018, the nation's space agency will take the next step toward a sustainable in-space manufacturing capability when it launches a machine that can not only print plastic parts, but can also recycle them back into reusable raw materials to make more and/or different parts.The machine, coined the “Refabricator,” is a device that will accept plastic materials of various sizes and shapes and turn them in to the feedstock used to 3-D print items. The whole process happens in a single automated machine about the size of a dorm room refrigerator."When we begin launching humans to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, space will be at a premium," said Niki Werkheiser, manager of In-Space Manufacturing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the device will be thoroughly tested before launching to the space station. "It simply won’t be feasible to send along replacement parts or tools for everything on the spacecraft, and resupplying from Earth is cost and time prohibitive. The Refabricator will be key in demonstrating a sustainable logistics model to fabricate, recycle, and reuse parts and waste materials.” NASA awarded a Small Business Innovation Research contract valued at approximately $750,000 to Tethers Unlimited Inc. of Seattle in April 2015, to build the recycling system.“The Refabricator demonstration is a key advance toward our vision of implementing a truly sustainable, in-space manufacturing ecosystem,” said Rob Hoyt, CEO of TUI. “Astronauts could use this technology to manufacture and recycle food-safe utensils, and turn what is now inconvenient waste into feedstock to help build the next generation of space systems. We believe re-using the waste could reduce the cost and risks for NASA and private space exploration missions.”The Refabricator will complete final flight certification testing at the Marshall Center in late 2017 and is slated to launch to station in April 2018. Almost all operations will be remotely commanded and controlled from Marshall’s Payload Operations Integration Center – mission control for science on the space station -- and TUI. The ability to remotely manage the process can save astronaut time and provide greater autonomy for future spaceflight missions."The space station is the ideal proving ground for this important technology," said Werkheiser. "Astronauts are already living and working in space, a mere 250 miles above Earth. Those crew members are helping make discoveries to benefit humans around the world while testing the important technology, life support systems and medical breakthroughs that will enable long-duration space exploration by humans."The Refabricator will be the first integrated recycler-manufacturer in orbit and may eventually be able to recycle and print, using metal as well as plastic, with very little monitoring from the station crew members. By 2020, NASA wants to create a Fabrication Laboratory, or FabLab, to test an integrated, multi-material, on-demand system."The FabLab would allow astronauts to select what they want or need from a catalogue of parts and then simply push a button to have it made," said Werkheiser.This project is an ideal example of how government and small businesses can effectively work together. In this example, NASA and TUI worked hand-in-hand in the rapid development of a brand new technology for in-space applications. NASA provided guidance and insight on how to design the system to successfully meet the stringent space flight certification, safety, and operations constraints.NASA continues to leverage open competition, including crowd-sourcing, Small Business Innovation Research awards, Broad Agency Announcements, and challenge competitions, to collaborate and meet space needs for space exploration.For more information about the Small Business Innovation Research program, visit: https://sbir.nasa.gov
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-media-to-upcoming-space-station-cargo-launchLooks like the ZBLAN printer is going up on CRS-13 in December
ISS Daily Summary Report – 4/06/2018Made in Space Fiber Optics (MSFO): The crew set up the MSFO locker and cables in preparation for 3D print operations in the Manufacturing Device. This investigation demonstrates the merits of manufacturing fiber optic filaments in microgravity.Today’s Planned ActivitiesMade In Space Fiber Optics Locker and Cable Setup
EXOTIC GLASS FIBERS FROM SPACETHE RACE TO MANUFACTURE ZBLANBY HAYLIE KASAP, CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Recent (December) article on ZBLAN with info about experiments/trials on ISS etc:QuoteEXOTIC GLASS FIBERS FROM SPACETHE RACE TO MANUFACTURE ZBLANBY HAYLIE KASAP, CONTRIBUTING AUTHORhttps://upward.issnationallab.org/the-race-to-manufacture-zblan/Edit to add: article attached
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 01/03/2019 07:42 pmRecent (December) article on ZBLAN with info about experiments/trials on ISS etc:QuoteEXOTIC GLASS FIBERS FROM SPACETHE RACE TO MANUFACTURE ZBLANBY HAYLIE KASAP, CONTRIBUTING AUTHORhttps://upward.issnationallab.org/the-race-to-manufacture-zblan/Edit to add: article attachedThree different companies working on ZBLAN production in microgravity.This is looking like product that open up microgravity manufacturing. We now need low cost unmanned or partially manned station to do robotic manufacturing. Being unmanned the safety level for visiting vehicles can be lot lower resulting cheaper vehicle. Having a space tug based at station would allow reuseable US to be used as supply vehicles. Space tug rendevous with US and swaps containers.
http://www.spacenewsfeed.com/index.php/news/2967-made-in-space-announces-manufacturing-system-for-smallsat-interferometry"This technology, known as Optimast-SCI (Structurally Connected Interferometer) equips an ESPA-class small satellite with the company’s extended structure manufacturing technology. It enables the deployment of a 20-meter optical boom interferometer with modular internal optics bench developed with Lowell Observatory, a world leader in astronomical optical interferometry."The picture in article has camera at each end of boom. I'm guessing if more cameras are added along boom they get better resolution.The other possibility is to make mulitple booms resulting in spokes of a wheel pattern with dozens of cameras. NB 20m is only their initial production model. They should able to scale up to lot larger eg +100m booms. Would interested to here from expert on this.
NASA VideoPublished on 12 Jul 2019Made In Space, Inc. of Mountain View, California, will demonstrate the ability of a small spacecraft, called Archinaut One, to manufacture and assemble spacecraft components in low-Earth orbit. Archinaut One is expected to launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand no earlier than 2022. Once it’s positioned in low-Earth orbit, the spacecraft will 3D-print two beams that extend 32 feet (10 meters) out from each side of the spacecraft. As manufacturing progresses, each beam will unfurl two solar arrays that generate up to five times more power than traditional solar panels on spacecraft of similar size. The in-space technology demonstration marks the start of the second phase of a partnership established through NASA’s Tipping Point solicitation. The public-private partnership combines NASA resources with an industry contribution of at least 25% of the program costs, shepherding the development of critical space technologies while also saving the agency, and American taxpayers, money. Credit: Made In Space
July 12, 2019RELEASE 19-056NASA Funds Demo of 3D-Printed Spacecraft Parts Made, Assembled in OrbitNASA has awarded a $73.7 million contract to Made In Space, Inc. of Mountain View, California, to demonstrate the ability of a small spacecraft, called Archinaut One, to manufacture and assemble spacecraft components in low-Earth orbit. The in-space robotic manufacturing and assembly technologies could be important for America’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.The contract is the start of the second phase of a partnership established through NASA’s Tipping Point solicitation. The public-private partnership combines NASA resources with an industry contribution of at least 25% of the program costs, shepherding the development of critical space technologies while also saving the agency, and American taxpayers, money.Archinaut One is expected to launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand no earlier than 2022. Once it’s positioned in low-Earth orbit, the spacecraft will 3D-print two beams that extend 32 feet (10 meters) out from each side of the spacecraft. As manufacturing progresses, each beam will unfurl two solar arrays that generate as much as five times more power than traditional solar panels on spacecraft of similar size.“In-space robotic manufacturing and assembly are unquestionable game-changers and fundamental capabilities for future space exploration,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. “By taking the lead in the development of this transformative technology, the United States will maintain its leadership in space exploration as we push forward with astronauts to the Moon and then on to Mars.”The potential of these technologies is profound and includes such benefits as:Enabling remote, in-space construction of communications antennae, large-scale space telescopes and other complex structures;Enabling small satellites to deploy large surface area power systems and reflectors that currently are reserved for larger satellites;Eliminating spacecraft volume limits imposed by rockets; and,Avoiding the inherent risk of spacewalks by performing some tasks currently completed by astronauts.Made In Space began working on Archinaut as a ground demonstration in 2016 and, just a year later, successfully 3D-printed structural beams in a unique NASA facility that mimics the conditions of space. In a thermal vacuum chamber at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, they were able to prove the printing equipment and printed hardware can withstand the pressure, temperature, and other rigors of space.The Archinaut team includes Made In Space, Northrop Grumman of Falls Church, Virginia, Ames, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate matures groundbreaking technologies to extend mission capabilities as well as government and commercial opportunities in space. The program is based at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.To learn more about NASA's investments in space technology, visit:https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech-end-
Physical Optics Corporation (POC) is pleased to announce an SBIR Phase III award of over $4M for the production investigation of optical fibers in zero-gravity. This past April, POC had the honor to participate in its first space endeavor sending an engineering prototype to meet the International Space Station (ISS).