Additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing, is a fast and reliable way to manufacture small plastic pieces of any shape, which can be used for a variety of tasks. Portable On Board Printer 3D demonstrates an automated 3-D printer that produces plastic objects on board the International Space Station (ISS). Results from this experiment may pave the way for the installation of a full-sized 3-D printer on board the ISS in the future.

This research represents an initial step towards digital-and-automated manufacturing objects directly onboard the ISS , and other future manned spacecraft or planetary outposts.

This experiment consists of one automated-fabrication session producing one small object made of plastic. The research achieves an initial validation step for the introduction of this automated and flexible polymer forming technology on board the ISS, and for use as a promotion for further developments of 3D printing applications for use in space.

Mission: Expedition 45-46

Launch date: 06/12/2015 00:00:00

‣ News

WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2022

SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI WILL BE THE COMMANDER OF THE ISS ‣

AstroSamantha will become the first European astronaut in command of the International Space Station MORE...

THURSDAY 21 JULY 2022

ASTROSAMANTHA, THE FIRST EUROPEAN SPACEWALKER ‣

First extravehicular activity for Samantha Cristoforetti MORE...

TUESDAY 19 JULY 2022

AGILE, published the first article about the “New Year’s Burst” ‣

On Friday 15 July, the first detailed study on this "New Year's Burst" was published in the Astrophysical Journal, using data acquired by the AGILE satellite MORE...

MONDAY 11 JULY 2022

Fermi-LAT collaboration has released the updated list of cosmic gamma-ray sources to date ‣

The third release of the Fermi Point Source Catalog (4FGL-DR3) covers 12 years of data taken by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope MORE...

WEDNESDAY 18 MAY 2022

SECOND MEETING IN SPACE WITH ASTROSAMANTHA ‣

The Italian experiments of the Minerva mission were presented MORE...