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NASA ‘emails’ wrench to space station
by：Tuowei
2019-09-08
Now that the ISS already has 3D printers, engineers can design new tools on the ground and send them to space.
In September, space manufacturing shipped a 3D printer to astronauts on the space station.
It printed its first object in November.
A replacement part of itself.
But this is the first time a specially designed tool has been printed-
This is exactly what the designer wants it to do.
\"The socket wrench we just made is the first object we designed on the ground and sent digitally to space, in flight,\" Space founder Mike Chen wrote in the media.
\"This is the first time we have sent the hardware\" via email \"to space.
Why so great?
Chen and his colleagues are responding to astronaut Barry Wilmo\'s request that he need a ratchet socket wrench.
So far, it will take a few months for this requirement to be completed --
Wilmore will have to wait for the next mission to go to the space station to carry the tools.
Instead, Chen and his team designed a wrench for printing and then sent the design to the space station via NASA.
\"Because sending digital data is much faster (
Can travel at the speed of light)
Than sending physical objects (
This includes waiting for the Rockets for months to years)
More meaningful for 3D
Print things in space when we can, not launch them, \"Chen wrote.
This means that astronauts can do their work faster with less money.
The technology could also be life-saving straw: during the infamous Apollo 13 mission, astronauts were forced to use any material at hand to make a new CO2 scrubber in flight.
As clean oxygen runs out in the lunar module, engineers on the ground race to design a temporary solution and communicate building instructions to astronauts on board.
But what if they were able to add supplies on board with custom stuff?
Design works that can be printed at will?
Only when we venture beyond the orbit of our own planet can this fast and cheap way of getting into space become more useful.
\"When we build our first human colony on the moon, Mars and elsewhere, we don\'t use rockets to carry everything we need,\" Chen wrote . \".
\"When we need it, we will build what we need there.
In September, space manufacturing shipped a 3D printer to astronauts on the space station.
It printed its first object in November.
A replacement part of itself.
But this is the first time a specially designed tool has been printed-
This is exactly what the designer wants it to do.
\"The socket wrench we just made is the first object we designed on the ground and sent digitally to space, in flight,\" Space founder Mike Chen wrote in the media.
\"This is the first time we have sent the hardware\" via email \"to space.
Why so great?
Chen and his colleagues are responding to astronaut Barry Wilmo\'s request that he need a ratchet socket wrench.
So far, it will take a few months for this requirement to be completed --
Wilmore will have to wait for the next mission to go to the space station to carry the tools.
Instead, Chen and his team designed a wrench for printing and then sent the design to the space station via NASA.
\"Because sending digital data is much faster (
Can travel at the speed of light)
Than sending physical objects (
This includes waiting for the Rockets for months to years)
More meaningful for 3D
Print things in space when we can, not launch them, \"Chen wrote.
This means that astronauts can do their work faster with less money.
The technology could also be life-saving straw: during the infamous Apollo 13 mission, astronauts were forced to use any material at hand to make a new CO2 scrubber in flight.
As clean oxygen runs out in the lunar module, engineers on the ground race to design a temporary solution and communicate building instructions to astronauts on board.
But what if they were able to add supplies on board with custom stuff?
Design works that can be printed at will?
Only when we venture beyond the orbit of our own planet can this fast and cheap way of getting into space become more useful.
\"When we build our first human colony on the moon, Mars and elsewhere, we don\'t use rockets to carry everything we need,\" Chen wrote . \".
\"When we need it, we will build what we need there.
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