Copernical Team
To advance space colonization, team explores 3D printing in microgravity
Research from West Virginia University students and faculty into how 3D printing works in a weightless environment aims to support long-term exploration and habitation on spaceships, the moon or Mars.
Extended missions in outer space require the manufacture of crucial materials and equipment onsite, rather than transporting those items from Earth. Members of the Microgravity Research Team said they believe 3D printing is the way to make that happen.
The team's recent experiments focused on how a weightless microgravity environment affects 3D printing using titania foam, a material with potential applications ranging from UV blocking to water purification. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces published their findings.
"A spacecraft can't carry infinite resources, so you have to maintain and recycle what you have and 3D printing enables that," said lead author Jacob Cordonier, a doctoral student in mechanical and aerospace engineering at the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
ESA space transportation accelerates disruptive innovation with FIRST!
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ESA's new dimension in printed circuit design
This microscopic X-ray animation shows one of the key technologies allowing advanced computer functionality to fit within the smartphone in your pocket: ‘microvias’ are laser drilled holes a small fraction of a millimetre in diameter. A typical high-density interconnect printed circuit board might possess thousands of microvias, which serve to connect multiple functional layers.
ESA explores cultivated meat for space food
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Webb sees Crab Nebula in new light
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Marking 25 Years since Deep Space 1 kickstarted Ion propulsion
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The company's OSA 5405-S PT NASA-ISRO radar mission to provide dynamic view of forests, wetlands
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Founded in 2020, Rogue has been a