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Category Archives: Space Station

Astronaut 'prints' a tool in space

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By Sarah LeTrent, CNN

updated 5:29 PM EST, Fri December 19, 2014 |

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Bringing supplies to astronauts on the International Space Station can be a little screwy, leaving astronauts waiting for the next costly and risky resupply mission.

This week, thanks to 3-D printing, astronaut and ISS commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore had a wrench he needed manufactured by a printer in just four hours.

The ratcheting socket wrench was the first "uplink tool" printed in space, according to Grant Lowery, marketing and communications manager for Made In Space, which built the printer in partnership with NASA. The tool was designed on the ground, emailed to the space station and then manufactured.

From start to finish, the process took less than a week.

Made in Space's 3-D printer is the first to operate in zero gravity, and printed its first object in orbit -- a part for the printer, ironically -- in November.

"This means that we could go from having a part designed on the ground to printed in orbit within an hour to two from start to finish," Niki Werkheiser, NASA's 3-D print manager, said in a press release when the printer was sent to the ISS in September. "The on-demand capability can revolutionize the constrained supply chain model we are limited to today and will be critical for exploration missions."

The goal for the project is to create in-space manufacturing, especially as missions venture farther from Earth.

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Astronaut 'prints' a tool in space

Minecraft Mapstravaganza! Crew Space Station, Pixel Land and Parkour Race! – Video

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Minecraft Mapstravaganza! Crew Space Station, Pixel Land and Parkour Race!
Welcome to Minecraft Mapstravaganza, A series where we play your user/fan/viewer created maps, review and enjoy! Creation, Wild Card and Competitive! It #39;s YOU who will make the maps and YOUR.

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Minecraft: X-Craft "Space Station – EXTREME SKY DIVING MOON MISSION" (3) – Video

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Minecraft: X-Craft "Space Station - EXTREME SKY DIVING MOON MISSION" (3)
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Minecraft: X-Craft "Space Station - EXTREME SKY DIVING MOON MISSION" (3) - Video

NASA just emailed the space station a new socket wrench

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Astronauts on the International Space Station have a new socket wrench. But it didn't come via cargo ship. It was emailed from planet Earth -- beamed up into space and then printed by the ISS crew using their new 3-D printer.

In late September, space's first zero-gravity 3-D printer was delivered to the International Space Station by a SpaceX resupply mission. In November, astronauts finally got around to assembling the machine, designed and manufactured by California-based company Made In Space. Astronauts successfully tested the printer in late November, and now the new technology is being used with a purpose.

NASA predicted that ISS might become a machine shop with arrival of the new printer. And sure enough, the first printed product of note is a ratcheting socket wrench. It's the first time hardware has ever been emailed into space.

"If the printer is successful, it will not only serve as the first demonstration of additive manufacturing in microgravity, but it also will bring NASA and Made In Space a big step closer to evolving in-space manufacturing for future missions to destinations such as an asteroid and Mars," NASA wrote in a September blog post.

What began as a simple CAD file on computers back on Earth, created by engineers and computer scientists at Made In Space, is now a usable plastic wrench aboard the International Space Station.

"On the ISS, this type of technology translates to lower costs for experiments, faster design iteration, and a safer, better experience for the crew members, who can use it to replace broken parts or create new tools on demand," Mike Chen, Made In Space founder, wrote on Medium's Backchannel.

"When we do set up the first human colonies on the moon, Mars and beyond," Chen added, "we won't use rockets to bring along everything we need. We'll build what we need there, when we need it."

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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NASA just emailed the space station a new socket wrench

Astronaut prints 3-D wrench in space

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By Sarah LeTrent, CNN

updated 5:29 PM EST, Fri December 19, 2014 |

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Bringing supplies to astronauts on the International Space Station can be a little screwy, leaving astronauts waiting for the next costly and risky resupply mission.

This week, thanks to 3-D printing, astronaut and ISS commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore had a wrench he needed manufactured by a printer in just four hours.

The ratcheting socket wrench was the first "uplink tool" printed in space, according to Grant Lowery, marketing and communications manager for Made In Space, which built the printer in partnership with NASA. The tool was designed on the ground, emailed to the space station and then manufactured.

From start to finish, the process took less than a week.

Made in Space's 3-D printer is the first to operate in zero gravity, and printed its first object in orbit -- a part for the printer, ironically -- in November.

"This means that we could go from having a part designed on the ground to printed in orbit within an hour to two from start to finish," Niki Werkheiser, NASA's 3-D print manager, said in a press release when the printer was sent to the ISS in September. "The on-demand capability can revolutionize the constrained supply chain model we are limited to today and will be critical for exploration missions."

The goal for the project is to create in-space manufacturing, especially as missions venture farther from Earth.

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Astronaut prints 3-D wrench in space

Elite: Dangerous 1.0 First Time in the Cosmos | Noob Let’s Play ep01 – Video

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Elite: Dangerous 1.0 First Time in the Cosmos | Noob Let #39;s Play ep01
Hey guys, This is my first atempt at flying in the all new space sim, Elite: Dangerous, and... I am verry bad :)). The first thing i did while exeting the space station was role into it :))....

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Elite: Dangerous 1.0 First Time in the Cosmos | Noob Let's Play ep01 - Video

Space Shuttle Atlantis : Retro Wednesday: Launch and Landing of STS 129 – Video

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Space Shuttle Atlantis : Retro Wednesday: Launch and Landing of STS 129
The shuttle launches were almost a beautiful sight. Sad that this wonderful vehicle is no longer in use. Space shuttle Atlantis and its six-member crew began an 11-day delivery flight to the...

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Free energy from space with lasers?

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Tomorrow Transformed explores innovative approaches and opportunities available in business and society through technology.

(CNN) -- In space there's no atmosphere, it's never cloudy, and in geosynchronous orbits it's never night: a perfect place for a solar power station to harvest uninterrupted power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The concept has been around since the 1940s when science fiction writer Isaac Asimov posited the idea of a robot-manned space station that delivered energy to Earth via microwaves.

Today, the idea is less science fiction than a steadily advancing reality.

Clean energy from above

The United States, China, India and Japan all have projects at various stages of development that would see robots assemble solar arrays that could provide the Earth with massive amounts of clean and renewable energy delivered wirelessly.

Some variants of the idea could even see as much as 1GW of energy beamed to receivers on Earth -- enough to power a large city.

According to Dr Paul Jaffe, spacecraft engineer at the US Naval Research Laboratory, the concept is scientifically sound.

"NASA and the US Department of Energy did a study in the late 70s that cost $20 million at the time and looked at it in pretty great depth," Dr Jaffe told CNN. "The conclusion at that time was that there was nothing wrong with the physics but the real question is the economics."

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Free energy from space with lasers?

SpaceX Delays Space Station Cargo Launch to January

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SpaceX is delaying the planned launch on Friday of an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry a cargo ship to the International Space Station for NASA, to early January, officials said on Thursday. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida had been planned for 1:22 p.m. EST, but an undisclosed technical issue with the rocket prompted SpaceX, as the company is known, to postpone the flight until Jan 6. The problem surfaced during routine prelaunch test firing of the rocket's engines, SpaceX spokesman John Taylor said. "The test did not run the full duration," he said. "The data suggests we could push forward without a second attempt, but out of an abundance of caution, we are opting to execute a second static fire test prior to launch." SpaceX, founded and run by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, is one of two companies hired by NASA to fly cargo to the space station following NASA's retirement of its space shuttle fleet in 2011. The other company, Orbital Sciences, has been temporarily grounded after its Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff Oct. 28 from Wallops Island, Virginia, destroying a Cygnus cargo ship. The space station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth, is in no danger of running out of food or supplies for its six-member crew, NASA said.

--- Reuters

First published December 18 2014, 7:50 AM

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SpaceX Delays Space Station Cargo Launch to January

US, Russian space travellers: 'There is no borders in space between us'

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Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, left, shakes hands with US astronaut Scott Kelly after a press conference at Unesco on Thursday. Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images

A US astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut gearing up for the longest-ever flight on the International Space Station (ISS) said Thursday they were unfazed by any turbulence in their countries political ties.

Nasa spacefarer Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are to launch to the ISS in 2015 for a year-long stay designed to be a test-bed for a future trip to Mars.

The ISS is a rare area of US-Russian cooperation that has not been hit by the Ukrainian crisis, which has prompted Washington to impose sanctions on Moscow.

In space, we rely on each other implicitly for our lives, Kelly, 50, said at a press conference in Paris to showcase the mission.

Any political issues that exist between our countries is something we dont even discuss. Were great friends, were colleagues, were professionals. Thats the way it has to be.

Kornienko, 54, added: There is no borders in space between us.

Its a great example of ... working together, especially for politics on the ground.

Their spell will be the longest stay aboard the ISS since the orbital outpost in space was manned in 2000.

The longest-ever space trip was by cosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov, who in 1994 and 1995 spent 437 days in the Russian-Soviet station Mir.

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US, Russian space travellers: 'There is no borders in space between us'


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