In less than two short weeks, Made In Space and NASA are slated to launch the first 3D printer to space. The day our printer arrives at the International Space Station (ISS) is fast approaching. It’s a wonder that we have come this far in just a few years.
In the summer of 2010, I co-founded Made In Space with Aaron Kemmer and Jason Dunn out of a series of secret space team meetings late at night on the Singularity University campus at NASA Ames Research Park. All three of us were enrolled in the space track of Singularity’s Graduate Studies Program.
At the time, we were talking about how to colonize space. And we weren’t just talking science fiction.
We were discussing how to realistically render outer space accessible to as much of the human population as possible. As quickly as possible.
There are a lot of really good reasons to open access to space, not the least of which is that we all personally want to travel there ourselves — maybe at some point even live there.
But, it’s much bigger than that. It’s a fundamental necessity to diversify the human race’s existence beyond just the Earth if we are going to ensure our species’ long-term survival. It’s too risky to have all of our eggs in one basket.
So, we set out to solve the problem.
For weeks, we stayed up until early dawn brainstorming ideas, identifying bottlenecks in the aerospace industry, doing calculations, and dreaming up solutions.
We looked in-depth at various technologies that would have the greatest impact on eliminating the most fundamental barriers to space travel and colonization.
For instance, among countless other options, we considered entering the satellite industry with the goal of launching small, disruptive satellites into space.
We thought about launching a lot of things.
But we kept coming across the same problem over and over again: As long as we were thinking of launching something into space — no matter what it was — the cost of the launch itself was ultimately too restrictive to really do what we wanted.
The most serious barrier to furthering space exploration is the fact that getting things to space is, plainly put, just too damn expensive and time-consuming.
Which is why the idea of 3D printing in space emerged as the polestar of our research efforts.
Additive manufacturing, otherwise known as 3D printing, refers to additive processes used to create a three-dimensional object from a digital file on-demand. You can scan in an object or create your own virtual 3D design using CAD software. Then, your 3D printer will then print out the object layer-by-layer according to the exact specifications you set.
The object will be printed in whatever kind of feedstock material you choose to insert into the 3D printer, depending on what type of 3D printer you have. The time it takes to print the object will depend on its size and design.
The idea of 3D printing in space meant that we would be able to actually create things in space instead of having to launch them. If we could create things in space and build there, we could eliminate the problem of cost-prohibitive, time-intensive launches entirely.
Aside from the initial cost of launching a printer with accompanying feedstock, we would be able to do everything in space that we ever wanted to do. What you make in space never has to support its own weight or withstand the rigors of a rocket launch. By simply sending the feedstock, we’re already greatly cutting down on the amount of mass that is sent to space, which means rockets are used far less frequently, which in turn saves immeasurable amounts of time, effort and money.
Down the line, we would then figure out how to obtain available feedstock from material that already exists in space, such as planetary material like regolith. (Think: space junk and asteroid mining to further eliminate the problem of costly launches.)
Ergo, zeroing in on 3D printing as the focus of our new space startup was not happenstance or the result of an epiphany as much as it was the obvious choice after careful evaluation.
Dr. Dan Barry, brilliant engineer, scientist, three-time NASA astronaut and one of Made In Space’s founding partners, had encouraged us to pursue 3D printing from the very beginning. He drew from his first-hand experience aboard the Endeavour and the Discovery and really geared us toward the idea of developing technologies for additive manufacturing in space.
Dan knew that the time was ripe for 3D printing in space. We listened to him.
Over the last several years, we have been working closely with NASA to develop a 3D printer that is prime to operate on the ISS. We initially tested commercial retail 3D printers on Zero-G parabolic and suborbital flights, but quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to build our own.
Although there are a plethora of reasons why we decided to ultimately build our own printer, the main reason was that, like most Earth-based devices, existing additive manufacturing systems relied heavily on gravity.
We needed ours to operate in zero gravity.
Not only that, but we needed our printer to operate as safely as possible because the first and foremost consideration we have when launching anything to space is the safety of the crew.
Four years later, here we are. The 3D Printing In Zero-G Technology Demonstration is ready for launch on the SpaceX CRS-4, currently scheduled for September 20.
However, there is still a long way to go. Made In Space’s vision for the future of humanity in space is bold. Launching the printer to the ISS is but the first step.
This is just the beginning.
About The Author
A software architect, entrepreneur, and relentless proponent of human space colonization, Mike Chen has been instrumental in founding and growing numerous successful ventures, such as Made In Space, Plus Labs and Chen Ventures. Mike is a futurist who adamantly believes that we have a moral obligation to apply our greatest technological and entrepreneurial efforts towards solving humanity’s most important challenges.
Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikechen
