NASA’s First ZeroG 3D Printer Made Printhead Faceplate In Space

With an objective to manufacture spare parts and tools in space to save transport costs as well as time, NASA’s 3D printer on the International Space Station (ISS) has successfully manufactured the first 3-D printed object in space. NASA worked with the California based company, Made In Space, Inc., to design, build and test the 3-D printer. The first ever 3-D printed object – “printhead faceplate” is engraved with the names of two organizations NASA and Made In Space, Inc.


The first calibration test print was conducted on November, 17 after the agency installed the 3D printer on the International Space Station. Then, the second calibration test print was conducted on November, 20, as ground control team commanded to realign the printer. The team then sent command on November, 24 to the printer to print a faceplate of the extruder’s casing. On the morning of November, 25 NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, Expedition 42 commander aboard the International Space Station, removed the object from the printer and studied it. He found that the adhesive bond between the part and plate was pretty strong. The results were better than the expectations of the team. This could mean that the layer bonding is different from that of Earth’s in microgravity environment of the ISS.

The engineers from NASA and Made In Space are scanning the downlinked images and videos of the sample built in space. The first ZeroG 3D Printer was released in space by NASA in the month of September. In order to reduce the crew time required for the operations, the major part of the printing process is controlled by the team on Earth.

Niki Werkheiser, project manager for the International Space Station 3-D Printer, mentioned in a statement that this first print is the beginning for providing an on-demand machine shop capability away from Earth. The maiden samples built in space will be back on Earth in 2015 for detailed inspection. These samples will then be compared with the objects which were built on the flight printer after last flight testing at the beginning of this year.

Source: Open for Business: 3-D Printer Creates First Object in Space on Intern | NASA