Planetary Resources and 3D Systems have produced the first 3D-printed object to have ever been crafted from alien metal.
In order to construct the new object, a part made from a material not of this world, the company extracted material from an ancient meteorite that landed in the country of Argentina during prehistoric times.
After processing the extracted meteorite dust, the asteroid mining company processed it and then pushed it through a 3D systems ProX DMP 320 direct metal printer. The end result of their labor is a small model of a spacecraft part resembling the company’s Arkyd spacecraft – which is currently being tested.
In order to prepare the material to be printed, the company “pulverized, powdered and processed” the asteroid.
The part eventually produced was unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas — the same trade show recently raided by U.S. Marshals over allegations that a particular Chinese firm’s hoverboard infringes upon a U.S. company’s patents.
Chris Lewicki, the CEO of Planetary Resources, humored the notion of 3D printing objects in space as he asked, “what if we put a 3D printer into space and everything we printed with it we got from space?”
Instead of manufacturing something in an Earth factory and putting it on a rocket and shipping it to space, what if we put a 3D printer into space and everything we printed with it we got from space?
The proposed notion falls in line with NASA’s own, as the space agency looks towards 3D printing to provide solutions for space exploration, as can be seen in their $2.25 million prize offering for the best 3D printed deep space habitats.
Lewicki was quoted by Engadget as having said that we’ve all “probably seen an iron meteorite in a museum, now we have the tech to take that material and print it in a metal printer using high energy laser.”
Everyone has probably seen an iron meteorite in a museum, now we have the tech to take that material and print it in a metal printer using high energy laser. Imagine if we could do that in space.
“We’re in the iron age of building in space, quite literally,” Lewicki stated. But in order to build in space, engineers will first have to work out 3D printing in a zero-gravity environment.
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