Launched on 18 December 2019, OPS-SAT was tasked with opening up the world of spacecraft operations to the widest possible audience. Its founding principle was to provide a fast, no-charge, non-bureaucratic experiment service for European and Canadian industry and academia.

It brought experimenters from companies, universities and public institutions across Europe and beyond into the heart of ESA's ESOC mission control center and helped them prove that their new ideas were up to the challenge of flying in orbit.

Flying ESA's most capable and flexible onboard computer, OPS-SAT showed us what future satellites will be capable of as they begin to carry more advanced equipment.

An in-orbit laboratory open to all

OPS-SAT was the first fully ESA-owned and operated CubeSat. A small, low-cost, innovative and open mission was unusual for ESA mission control, which typically flies Europe's largest and most complex spacecraft around Earth and across the solar system.

One small s-curve deposited in liquefied stainless steel equals a giant leap forward for in-orbit manufacturing: This is the very first metal 3D printing aboard the International Space Station, which took place last Thursday, aboard ESA's Columbus laboratory module.

"This S-curve is a test line, successfully concluding the commissioning of our Metal 3D Printer," explains ESA technical officer Rob Postema.

"The success of this first print, along with other reference lines, leaves us ready to print full parts in the near future. We've reached this point thanks to the hard efforts of the industrial team led by Airbus Defense and Space SAS, the CADMOS User Support Center in France, from which print operations are overseen from the ground, as well as our own ESA team."

Sébastien Girault, part of the team at consortium leader Airbus adds, "We're very happy to have performed the very first metal 3D printing aboard the ISS—the quality is as good as we could dream."

The Metal 3D Printer technology demonstrator has been developed by an industrial team led by Airbus under contract to ESA's Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration.

Representatives for a Maine company that plans to send small satellites into space from the Northeast's most rural state said they will start launches next year.

Brunswick-based bluShift Aerospace hopes to turn Maine into a hub for the launching of commercial nanosatellites and has been making progress toward that goal for more than three years.