The first metal 3D printer in space, a collaboration between ESA and Airbus, has printed its first metal product on the International Space Station, a breakthrough in crew autonomy for future long-duration exploration missions. ESA’s Metal 3D Printer, a technology demonstrator, was launched to the International Space Station at the start of this year, after which ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen installed the payload in the European Drawer Rack Mark II of ESA’s Columbus module.

In August, the printer successfully finished printing the first 3D metal shape. This first product, along with three others planned during the rest of the experiment, will be brought back to Earth for quality analysis: two of the samples will go to ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands (ESTEC), another will go to ESA’s astronaut training center in Cologne (EAC) for use in the LUNA facility, and the last will go to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

As exploration missions expand to the Moon and Mars, mission duration will increase, as will the importance of autonomy for the mission and its crew as resupply missions become more challenging. Additive manufacturing in space is a solution to this, providing an opportunity to manufacture needed parts, repair equipment, or construct dedicated tools, on demand during the mission, rather than relying on resupplies and redundancies.

Although the International Space Station has already hosted plastic 3D printers, ESA’s technology demonstrator is the first to successfully print a part in metal in microgravity conditions. The printer was built by Airbus and its partners, with Cranfield University in the UK involved in designing the printer's melting process and hardware, as well as its laser source, delivery optics, feedstock storage, and feeding system. Print operations were overseen by CNES from their control center for ISS payloads.

"With the printing of the first metal 3D shape in space, ESA Exploration teams have achieved a significant milestone in establishing in-orbit manufacturing capabilities. This accomplishment, made possible by an international and multidisciplinary team, paves the way for long-distance and long-duration missions where creating spare parts, construction components, and tools on demand will be essential,” says Daniel Neuenschwander, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA.

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