Space, the final frontier. Three-dimensional printers, the new revolution. Mix the two together and

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Space, the final frontier. Three-dimensional printers, the new revolution. Mix the two together and what do you get? Perhaps one of the most important developments in space exploration in recent years. The founders believe that at least start - up American Made In Space, whose goal is to bring three-dimensional printer space. "This is a necessary step if we are to colonize Mars or return to the moon," said co-founder, Jason Dunn, interview cAlcAlist. "
Dunn, aerospace engineer by training, founded the Made In Space following usps international shipping a decision usps international shipping to engage on start - up comedian of the space industry. "In college I worked with NASA, but I decided I'd rather focus my efforts on entrepreneurial," he says. "It's quite a niche area, there are many people who see the space industry as a place to develop the start - up. But I always thought that what is lacking in the industry and need more people to bring innovation and ideas. "
Dunn was speaking usps international shipping at a major conference three-dimensional printing held in Santa Clara, California, initiated by the BIRD Foundation - Foundation bi - national Israel - U.S. industrial cooperation, commercial attaché of the Ministry of Economy to the West Coast in the U.S., and investors club Silicom Ventures.
The idea to send a three-dimensional printer space was born in 2010, when Dan met his two partners set up the company, Aaron arch serves as CEO, and Michael Chen. "Explored in depth the problems facing them in the space industry, and we realized all of which drain one issue, which is a factor space exploration advanced so slowly: the supply chain. usps international shipping "
"The cost of transporting a liter of water into space is about $ 10,000, and this cost has changed significantly over time, because we are still transporting things into space on a bigger rocket. Decided to handle this problem by moving production space, and we realized that printing usps international shipping three-dimensional is the way to do it. it is clear that this is something that would cause the revolution of production here on Earth, and how much space. "
"All 3D printer usps international shipping created before that we develop is designed to work around with gravity. Gravity is the one that keeps the print surface area and making sure that the components and media move properly. Once taken out of the equation, usps international shipping things start to float, even if they are floating just a fraction of a millimeter, it can impair the final product. zero gravity has no up or down, so when the hot air created as a result of the printer is not rising but remains in the same place. This creates problems because there is no air movement in naturally lets keep the printing surface at a suitable temperature.'s the main reason usps international shipping NASA "A funding our work."
At first founders believed they could use one of the printers available on the market. usps international shipping "The plan was to take a printer three-dimensional commercial environment weightless, you can create special flights when the aircraft performing maneuvers acrobatic, learn what to do to make one of them work in zero gravity, adjust the printer in such an environment and fly it into space," recalls Dunn. "We offered the This NASA and planned experiment in which we flew dozens of different three-dimensional printers. printer we hoped in a three - dimensional commercial you need a very small amount of matches to go into space. "
But reality had other plans. "Once we started doing experiments in zero gravity, we found that all commercial printer has significant design flaws that prevent her from working in an area without weight. Then we decided to develop our own printer from the ground up. Spent more than three hours of production in zero gravity. This may not sound like much, but it is all right large size More than any other group that develops production technologies in zero gravity. "
"This is a trade secret and we do not detail the changes we've made. Many of them relate to this Scshmutziaim the gravity equation, have to rely on surface tension to hold the material on the printing surface. We wanted to create printers that surface tension usps international shipping is the dominant force. "
"We are now working with NASA to bring the printer to the space station. We performed different tests to the prototype as shaking tests to verify that the printer will survive dispatching, testing, acoustic usps international shipping and all standard tests of NASA. As we passed all the tests and all the reviews that NASA requires, we have a place to idle Spice X next year. 1 August 2014 is the day when tossed with the printer to be launched usps international shipping to the space station. This time next year we'll usps international shipping be in space, and pass a piece of hardware into space so easy send an email. "
As an illustration of the capabilities of the printer like Dunn mention the famous scene from the movie "Apollo 13", which is based on a real event, where NASA engineers are asked to find a way to attach a square air filter round outlet using existing accessories in the space. "Our engineer examined this problem, and in an hour-shaped adapter printed the same day. Has a line famous in the movie that says, 'Houston, we have a problem." We like to joke that if they had a printer in' Apollo 13 'they usps international shipping would say' Houston, has We have a solution. "
"If something goes wrong in space, you have to have parts available, the other option is to wait for the flight usps international shipping with the new equipment, and they go out only once every few months. There is a whole wing space station loaded with explosive bricks, each one spare parts. Most of the spare parts will never be used, and in fact most of them will never be opened. They are there just in case you need them. It is a waste of space that could be used for other tasks. So the first advantage of the printer is reducing the amount of spare parts should usps international shipping be stored in a space station that a printer can print a lot of parts only when they are needed. The first model was sent into space can print 30% of the spare parts. usps international shipping "
"Another problem is the construction of tools and hardware. Whether Tools