Made in space: Nasa tests 3D printers that will let Mars-bound astronauts craft their own equipment as they travel



Future astronauts might 'forget to pack', just like Earthbound holidaymakers - but it won't matter.



Instead, astronauts will use 3D printing machines that can make any object the astronauts need - even metal machine parts.

Nasa is already testing 'additive manufacturing' machines - 3D printers that create objects layer by layer - in low-gravity parabolic flights on Earth.

The space agency already has a (rather bulky) machine that can build metallic objects to order.

Whatever you need, when you need it: Nasa is already testing 'additive manufacturing' machines - 3D printers that create objects layer by layer - in low-gravity parabolic flights on Earth

Metal machine music: Almost 10 years ago, engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center developed the Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication, or EBF3, a process that uses an electron beam gun, a dual wire feed and computer controls to manufacture metallic structures

Almost 10 years ago, engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center developed the Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication, or EBF3, a process that uses an electron beam gun, a dual wire feed and computer controls to manufacture metallic structures for building parts or tools in hours, rather than days or weeks.

Nasa 3D printing expert Karen Taminger said, 'We are working towards demonstrating this capability on ISS.’

‘We're now pursuing hardware and procedural changes to make the system more robust and astronaut-friendly,’ Taminger said in an interview with Space.com.

‘Just as Christopher Columbus brought tools with him to help explore the New World,’ Taminger concluded,’NASA is developing an on-demand additive manufacturing tool that will allow space explorers to build what they want, when and where they need it.’



With the EBF3 acting as a sort of remote machine shop, the need for sending up tools and parts in a spacecraft could be eliminated.

And the tight tolerances in fabrication become even more critical in zero gravity situations.

Here and now, its capabilities are being used in a partnership between NASA and manufacturing.

'This is exactly the kind of technology we want to capitalize on,' said Lori Garver, NASA's deputy administrator.



'We want to push the technology boundary, not only with improvements of our own systems, but it is our job to also see that growth in the private sector.'