Emailing a wrench to ISSHaving overheard an ISS astronaut mention the need for a particular type of wrench, the company that made the 3D printer on the station immediately worked up a design and emailed that to him, allowing him to print it up.
No word on whether the astronaut actually printed it, but it seems to me that he should do so immediately, then test its use.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
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Having overheard an ISS astronaut mention the need for a particular type of wrench, the company that made the 3D printer on the station immediately worked up a design and emailed that to him, allowing him to print it up.
No word on whether the astronaut actually printed it, but it seems to me that he should do so immediately, then test its use.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
IIRC, one of the media reports had a picture of an astronaut on ISS with said “wrench”.
since it is made out of relatively soft plastic, kind of a poor material for a tool, it takes a bit of imagination to see what a big deal this is. But it is in fact, a big deal. Printing (and other local production methods) parts and tools is a crucial enabling technology for long duration space missions.
Seems like ISS would have a 3D printer that uses metal of some kind as its production material.
Everything with time, D.K.. There are many parts that can break on ISS, and it has been figured that about 86% are plastic. Thermoplastic plastic thread melts at a far lower temperature than most metals, and can be composed of components that won’t muck up the atmospheric life support system.
Metals require far more energetic lasers or even electron beams to melt, can oxidize to airborne components that muck up life support, are a danger inside ISS habitats if their hotter melted state gets loose, and require vacuum chambers to keep oxidation from becoming a problem. Metal 3d printing *will* begin to be used in orbit when an electron beam system can be mounted to the *outside* of a space station, with an airlock for bringing finished pieces inside without a spacewalk. Then, much larger pieces can be printed as well, for use outside a space station, without a spacewalk to assemble them from pieces.