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NASA Emailed A 3-D Wrench To Space For The First Time

Since the International Space Station, or ISS, now has a 3-D printer with them in space, NASA can now make things they need and ‘beam’ them up to space to them. According to a report by the Washington Post on Dec. 19, this is a new and exciting breakthrough for NASA and ISS. Why is this so exciting for them? It is a very exciting thing because before they had a 3-D printer; it would take months for them to get the things they needed in space. However, now, thanks to the new 3-D printer that was developed by Made in Space Inc. who shipped the printer to them in September, and they then made their very first thing they needed which was a replacement part for the printer itself, they can get the things they really need so much faster now. How cool is that?

Although it did print its first object in November, the replacement part for the 3-D printer, this time it printed its first on demand object when it was needed which is what the creators of it were hoping for. As a matter of fact, the Made in Space founder, Mike Chen had this to say about it:

The socket wrench we just manufactured is the first object we designed on the ground and sent digitally to space, on the fly. This is the first time we’ve ever ‘emailed’ hardware to space.

According to a report by CNN, the whole process took only about a week to process. This includes designing the socket wrench on the ground, emailing it to the space station, and then, finally, manufacturing it. With it taking only one week to complete the whole process as opposed to a whole month or a few months, no wonder NASA and ISS are so excited about this.

What do you think about this? Don’t you think this is an exciting new breakthrough for NASA and ISS? How cool is it that they can print the things they need for their space trips on demand like this? Sound off with your opinion on this and let everyone know what you think. Come on! Don’t be shy! 

 

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