Space metal brought down to Earth

Producing these simple 2D shapes prepared the demonstrator for the printing of its very first complete sample, which has since travelled from the ISS all the way to ESTEC, ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands.

Here, materials engineers are busy examining, cutting and bending the piece of space metal to understand if and how microgravity affected the printing process.

“We are comparing this metal part with an identically shaped one created here on Earth, using the same printer before it was shipped to the ISS,” explains Caterina Iantaffi, ESA’s materials engineer. “What we are looking for are differences attributable to different gravity levels. This will also help us learn how a metal 3D printer in space should be operated.”

Rob Postema, ESA’s technical officer of the project, recounts the unboxing moment: “When the first printed sample arrived at ESTEC and we carefully removed it from the transport container and protective packaging, it felt like we were unpacking a Christmas present. It was a wonderful and exciting experience to open the box and find a very well-printed first sample that has come all the way from the International Space Station, and to ensure it was properly handed over to ESTEC engineers for post-processing.”