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Did you know NASA once emailed a wrench to space? Dive into the wild world of 3D printing in space—from rocket engines to moon dust houses! Discover how this tech is revolutionizing exploration and what it means for Mars missions. Don't miss out—subscribe for more cosmic content and comment below with your favorite 3D printing breakthrough from the video! #space #3dprinting #technology #nasa #mars
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@marschroniken
0:00 - Emailing Tools: 3D Printing Revolution
1:42 - Additive vs Subtractive Manufacturing
4:19 - Types of 3D Printing Technology
9:01 - 3D Printing Rocket Engines
12:03 - In-Space Manufacturing & Bioprinting
14:32 - Building Habitats on the Moon and Mars
17:18 - Limitations and Honest Assessment
19:31 - Credits and Closing Remarks
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@marschroniken
0:00 - Emailing Tools: 3D Printing Revolution
1:42 - Additive vs Subtractive Manufacturing
4:19 - Types of 3D Printing Technology
9:01 - 3D Printing Rocket Engines
12:03 - In-Space Manufacturing & Bioprinting
14:32 - Building Habitats on the Moon and Mars
17:18 - Limitations and Honest Assessment
19:31 - Credits and Closing Remarks
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00In December 2014, NASA sent hardware into space for the first time without launching a rocket.
00:07No cargo ship, no capsule, no parachute.
00:11An astronaut on the ISS needed a ratchet and NASA emailed it to him.
00:17A file was sent up from Earth.
00:20A small printer hummed away for a few hours.
00:23And in the end, Barry Wilmore was holding a tool that had never seen a launch pad.
00:29That sounds like a nice anecdote.
00:31It is, in truth, the beginning of a revolution that is about to turn the entire space industry upside down.
00:39The same basic idea now prints rocket engines that are completed faster than a conventional factory could even order the
00:48tools.
00:48It prints human tissue in zero gravity because it works better up there than on Earth.
00:54And one day it is supposed to build houses on the moon out of almost nothing.
00:59That's just dust and sunlight.
01:01How all of this connects, why we still shouldn't print everything,
01:05and which printers a Mars base really needs to pack, we're going to clear that up right now.
01:12My name is Sir Juan and this is Mars Chronicles.
01:19Before we get started, a quick word on our own behalf.
01:22This video is about, among other things, SpaceX and Rocket Lab.
01:27At the time of release, I hold a position myself in SpaceX stock and Rocket Lab stock.
01:32And I explicitly do not make any buy or sell recommendations.
01:38This video is a journalistic analysis, not investment advice.
01:42So, and now onto the machines.
01:45Chapter 1. Scatter versus Pastry Chef.
01:49To understand why 3D printing has hit aerospace so hard, we need to briefly sort out what's actually happening there.
01:57The technical term is additive manufacturing and the word additive is the key.
02:03A component is built up layer by layer.
02:06Material is added until the part is finished.
02:09The counterpart is subtractive manufacturing.
02:12And its most important representative is the CNC mill.
02:16CNC stands for computer.
02:19Computerized Numerical Control.
02:22So, a computer controlled machine tool.
02:24It works like a sculptor.
02:26You take a solid block of metal and mill away everything that doesn't look like the component.
02:33Additive manufacturing, on the other hand, works like a pastry chef who builds a cake layer by layer.
02:40The difference sounds academic, but economically it's brutal.
02:44When milling, most of the expensive material often ends up as shavings in the container.
02:50In aerospace, there is even a specific metric for this.
02:54The buy to fly ratio.
02:57It describes how much raw material you need to buy to get one kilogram of flight ready hardware.
03:05For traditionally manufactured titanium parts, the ratio is sometimes absurdly poor.
03:10With printing, material ends up almost exclusively where it's actually needed.
03:16And the second point is even more important.
03:19A printer can build geometries that a milling machine physically cannot reach.
03:24Internal cooling channels that wind through a combustion chamber wall.
03:29Lattice structures that are hollow inside, yet fully load-bearing.
03:34That is what the discipline designed for additive manufacturing, or DFAM for short, is for.
03:39Designing specifically for 3D printing.
03:43This includes topology optimization, where an algorithm leaves material only where forces actually flow.
03:51The results look like bones or coral.
03:54And that's precisely the point.
03:57Nature has been building additively for millions of years.
04:00It just took us quite a long time to follow suit.
04:03Still, one thing is important for later.
04:07CNC is not dead.
04:09Almost every printed metal part is still milled, ground, and post-processed after printing.
04:16Because printed surfaces are rough.
04:18So, the two processes are not enemies.
04:21They should rather be seen as a team.
04:24Chapter 2. The Toolbox.
04:26From the basement workshop to the electron beam.
04:30Let's talk about the processes themselves.
04:33Because 3D printing is not just one process, but a whole family.
04:38At the lower end is what many of you have at home.
04:42Like my Prusa printer here in the studio.
04:44FDM or FFF.
04:47Meaning fused deposition modeling or fused filament fabrication.
04:51A plastic filament is melted and extruded through a nozzle.
04:57Layer upon layer.
04:59It was exactly this kind of printer that printed the ratchet on the ISS back in 2014.
05:06Simple, robust, perfect for brackets, covers, and tools.
05:11Then there's the resin camp.
05:13Stereolithography, SLA for short.
05:15It was the very first commercial 3D printing process ever.
05:20And it cures liquid resin with pinpoint precision using a laser beam.
05:25Today, however, projection systems make up the largest part.
05:29Exposing an entire layer all at once.
05:33Either via a DLP projector with millions of tiny micromirrors.
05:38Or via an LCD mask similar to a smartphone display.
05:42Both deliver extremely fine details.
05:46And are significantly faster.
05:49Because it is no longer point by point.
05:52Then there's the powder side of things.
05:54And that is where it gets really interesting for space travel.
05:57In selective laser sintering.
05:59SLS for short.
06:01A laser fuses plastic powder together.
06:03But the premier class is laser powder bed fusion.
06:07According to the current ISO standard.
06:09It is referred to as PBFLB.
06:12Short for powder bed fusion with laser beam.
06:16For a long time it was also abbreviated as LPBF.
06:19And known by the brand names SLM or DMLS.
06:23A wafer thin layer of metal powder is rolled out.
06:27A laser welds exactly the contour of the component in place.
06:32Then comes the next layer of powder.
06:35And so on.
06:36Thousands of times.
06:37In the end.
06:38You literally dig the finished component out of the powder bed.
06:41The direct counterpart is electron beam melting.
06:44According to ISO standard PBFEB.
06:48In which instead of a laser.
06:50An electron beam melts the powder in a vacuum.
06:53It particularly likes tough super alloys.
06:56And titanium.
06:57I need to pause for a second here.
06:59Just so we can really realize what we're actually talking about.
07:03100 years ago.
07:05A lot of what we're discussing right now.
07:07Would have easily passed for magic.
07:10Melting metal.
07:11Creating any shape imaginable.
07:13In no time at all.
07:15Out of different materials.
07:16And it's about to get even crazier.
07:18Sometimes it's truly hard to believe.
07:21What kind of times we're living in right now.
07:23For really large structures.
07:25There's also directed energy deposition.
07:28DED for short.
07:30And it's well known variation.
07:32Wire arc additive manufacturing.
07:34In short.
07:35Wham.
07:36Basically.
07:37A robot arm uses wire.
07:39And an electric arc.
07:40To build up entire tanks and structures.
07:42Meter by meter.
07:45And finally.
07:46Binder jetting.
07:47Where a liquid adhesive.
07:48Initially forms powder into just a porous green body.
07:52Which is then.
07:53Sintered in a furnace.
07:55Meaning it's heated just enough.
07:57For the grains to bond firmly together.
08:00Without melting completely.
08:03Keep this rough map in mind.
08:05Because a moon or mars base.
08:06Will later take along at least one device.
08:08From almost each of these families.
08:10Plastic for everyday use.
08:12Laser and powder for metal spare parts.
08:15And the really large scale processes for structures.
08:17But one step at a time.
08:19And this.
08:20Certainly doesn't stop at metal and plastic.
08:23Meanwhile.
08:23Even technical ceramics can be additively manufactured.
08:26So precisely that.
08:28Extremely hard.
08:29Heat resistant material.
08:30Needed for turbines.
08:32Heat shields.
08:33Or sensors.
08:33This usually uses the same resin based processes.
08:37Just described.
08:38Via stereolithography.
08:39Or DLP.
08:41Except that ultrafine ceramic powder is mixed into the liquid resin.
08:45After printing.
08:46The plastic framework is burned out.
08:49And the remaining ceramic is sintered.
08:51Especially for space travel.
08:53This is highly interesting.
08:54Because it allows complex ceramic components to be molded.
08:58Which would conventionally.
08:59Be nearly impossible to manufacture conventionally.
09:01Chapter 3.
09:033D printed engines.
09:05The place where 3D printing first truly changed space travel.
09:10Is the hottest and most complicated corner of any rocket.
09:14The engine.
09:15A classic combustion chamber with regenerative cooling.
09:18Is a manufacturing nightmare.
09:20Hundreds of fine cooling channels.
09:22Milled.
09:23Brazed.
09:23Welded.
09:24Every joint is a potential weak point.
09:27Lead times of many months.
09:29And then came the idea to just print the whole thing in one piece.
09:34With the cooling channels already built in.
09:36If we want to be completely precise.
09:38We also have to mention that 3D printing with metal.
09:42Is actually nothing more than welding.
09:45Chapter 4.
09:46Proving with 3D that this is no lab toy.
09:50The combustion chamber of the Super Draco engine for the Crew Dragon.
09:53Was printed using the laser powder bed fusion process from the nickel alloy Inconel.
09:58An engine on which human lives depend in an emergency.
10:01From a 3D printer.
10:03That was a statement.
10:04The next step was taken by Rocket Lab.
10:06Electron's Rutherford engine.
10:08Was the first engine whose primary load bearing components are printed.
10:14That made it into orbit.
10:16Flown for the first time.
10:18Starting in 2017.
10:20And in orbit.
10:22By early 2018.
10:23Combustion chamber.
10:25Injector.
10:26Pumps.
10:26Valve housings.
10:28All made additively.
10:29And the company cites print times on the order of about a day per engine set.
10:34For comparison.
10:35Traditional engine manufacturing works on timelines measured in months.
10:39That is precisely why Rocket Lab can mass produce engines.
10:43Like other people make sneakers.
10:45And then came the ultimate test.
10:47Relativity Space wanted to print the entire rocket right away.
10:50And to do so built some of the world's largest metal 3D printers.
10:54As part of its Stargate system.
10:56According to the company.
10:57Around 85% of the Terran 1's mass.
11:01Consisted of 3D printed parts.
11:04In March 2023.
11:06It flew.
11:07Survived Max-Q.
11:08The point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
11:10And proved that a predominantly 3D printed structure.
11:14Could withstand the stress of launch.
11:16It didn't make it to orbit.
11:18Because of an issue with the upper stage.
11:21And relativity changed course after that.
11:23Its successor Terran R.
11:26Is being built in a much more conventional way.
11:303D printing is now only used where it actually makes sense.
11:34That isn't a defeat for the technology.
11:36It's its maturation.
11:38The established players have long been on board too.
11:40NASA is 3D printing combustion chambers.
11:43Using the copper alloy GR COP42.
11:46And through the RAM Fire project.
11:48Has tested printed nozzles.
11:49Made from a special aluminum alloy.
11:51And in Europe.
11:53The Ariane 6.
11:55Vulcane 2.1.
11:57Features a printed gas generator head.
11:59While the future Prometheus engine.
12:01Was designed around 3D printing.
12:03Right from the start.
12:05The question today is no longer.
12:06Whether you 3D print engines with him.
12:09But only which parts.
12:11Chapter 4.
12:12The Zero Gravity Factory.
12:14Back to our ratchet from earlier.
12:15The printer that made it.
12:17Came from the company Made in Space.
12:18Which is part of Redwire today.
12:20And it flew to the ISS in September 2014.
12:23The idea behind it.
12:25Is called in space manufacturing.
12:27Meaning manufacturing directly in space.
12:30The idea is compelling.
12:32Every kilogram of spare parts.
12:34You don't have to bring along.
12:35Is one more kilogram of payload.
12:38Fuel or supplies.
12:39Instead of a warehouse full of parts.
12:42You take raw materials.
12:43And bring along digital files.
12:45A tool breaks.
12:47You print a new one.
12:48For a Mars mission.
12:49Where the next delivery of spare parts.
12:51Is years away.
12:53It's a matter of survival.
12:54And zero gravity.
12:56Isn't just an obstacle.
12:57It's also a tool.
12:59That is shown by the most futuristic machine.
13:01Currently operating in space.
13:03Redwire's biofabrication facility.
13:06On the ISS.
13:07BFF for short.
13:08That is a bio 3D printer.
13:11That prints with living cells.
13:13On Earth.
13:15Bioprinting is in fact.
13:17A battle against gravity.
13:19Soft.
13:20Freshly printed tissue.
13:21Collapses under its own weight.
13:23Like pudding that's too warm.
13:25Which is why you have to pack it.
13:26Full of support structures.
13:28In zero gravity.
13:30This problem simply disappears.
13:33In 2023.
13:35The BFF printed a human meniscus.
13:38Which is the cartilage from the knee joint.
13:40And has since been working on hard tissue samples.
13:43The long term vision behind this.
13:45Is to eventually have transplantable organs.
13:48Printed in orbit.
13:50That is still far off of course.
13:52But it shows that space isn't just a place.
13:54Where printing is necessary.
13:56But one where some things.
13:57Can only be printed.
14:00On top of that.
14:01There are concepts for printing large structures.
14:04Directly in the vacuum.
14:05That means.
14:06Masts.
14:07Antennas.
14:07And support structures.
14:08That would never have to fit inside a payload fairing.
14:12Because they wouldn't launch folded up anymore.
14:14A quick pit stop.
14:16Before we head to the moon.
14:17If you've enjoyed this episode so far.
14:19Give the video a like right now.
14:21It's just a single click for you.
14:22But it helps the channel tremendously.
14:24Because the algorithm will then show the video.
14:27To significantly more people.
14:28And if you want to go one step further.
14:30You can check out the channel membership.
14:33And let's move on with dust.
14:35Chapter 5.
14:36Houses out of moon dust.
14:39Now for the grand finale of technology.
14:41Building on other worlds.
14:43The magic word is ISRU.
14:46Meaning in-situ resource utilization.
14:49Or in other words.
14:50The use of on-site resources.
14:52Because one thing is certain.
14:54No one is flying bricks to the moon.
14:56With transport costs that.
14:58Even by optimistic estimates.
15:00Are several thousand euros per kilogram.
15:03Building materials from earth.
15:04Would be economic insanity.
15:06But the building material is already there.
15:08And it's everywhere.
15:10Regolith.
15:10The fine sharp edge dust.
15:12That covers the moon and mars.
15:14The concepts for this.
15:15Are essentially giant 3D printers.
15:18ESA and the German Aerospace Center.
15:21DLR for short.
15:22Have shown that regolith simulant.
15:24Can be sintered into solid bricks.
15:26Using concentrated sunlight.
15:28That is baked together.
15:30Without melting it completely.
15:32Other approaches work with lasers.
15:34Or microwaves.
15:35NASA is driving this forward.
15:37In the impact program.
15:39That stands for moon to mars.
15:41Planetary autonomous.
15:43Construction technology.
15:44And the main industry partner.
15:46There is the Texas based company.
15:48Icon.
15:48They already print.
15:49Entire residential homes.
15:51On earth.
15:51Using concrete.
15:52And they printed.
15:53The Mars Dune Alpha habitat.
15:54For NASA.
15:55That is an approximately.
15:57160 square meter.
15:59Fully 3D printed.
16:01Mars analog station.
16:02At the Johnson Space Center.
16:04Where.
16:05Since 2023.
16:07As part of the Chapea missions.
16:08Crews have been simulating.
16:10A Mars mission.
16:11For one year each.
16:12So people are already living.
16:14In printed.
16:15Mars habitats today.
16:16Just still in Houston.
16:18And not on Mars.
16:19And here comes the point.
16:20From our briefing.
16:21That I think.
16:21Is absolutely right.
16:23A moon.
16:24Or Mars base.
16:25Won't just have.
16:26One.
16:263D printer.
16:27It'll bring an entire.
16:29Pack of them along.
16:30Outside.
16:30The construction printer.
16:32That builds.
16:32Landing pads.
16:33Radiation shielding walls.
16:35And habitat shells.
16:36From sintered regolith.
16:38Preferably.
16:38Autonomously.
16:39And even.
16:40Before the crew arrives.
16:41Inside.
16:42The powder bed.
16:43Metal printer.
16:44That manufactures.
16:45Spare parts.
16:45For rovers.
16:46Pumps.
16:47And life support.
16:48For metal powder.
16:49Brought along.
16:49Or eventually.
16:50Sourced on site.
16:52Next to it.
16:53The plastic printer.
16:54For daily use.
16:55Which ideally.
16:56Turns recycled.
16:57Packaging material.
16:58Into filament.
16:59Making clips.
17:00Seal holders.
17:01And tools.
17:01From it.
17:03And eventually.
17:04In the lab.
17:04Maybe.
17:05A bioprinter.
17:06For tissue.
17:07And medical.
17:07Emergencies.
17:09The base.
17:10Will be less.
17:10Of a building.
17:11And more.
17:12Of a workshop.
17:13That can.
17:13Repair itself.
17:14That is.
17:15The real.
17:15Paradigm.
17:16Shift.
17:17Not bringing things along.
17:19But capabilities.
17:22Chapter six.
17:23Honest assessment.
17:25Finally.
17:25The honest assessment.
17:27And the skeptics.
17:28Have some very valid points.
17:29Here.
17:30First.
17:31Quality assurance.
17:33Printed metal parts.
17:34Can contain pores.
17:35And defects.
17:36That you can't see.
17:37From the outside.
17:39That's why.
17:40Every flight critical.
17:42Printed part.
17:42Requires a whole series.
17:44Of non-destructive inspections.
17:46Such as.
17:47Computer tomography.
17:49And post processing.
17:50Treatments.
17:51Like hot.
17:51Isostatic.
17:52Pressing.
17:53Which closes pores.
17:54Under heat.
17:54And pressure.
17:56That takes time.
17:57And money.
17:58And it puts the vision.
17:59Of push button.
18:00Components.
18:01Into perspective.
18:03Second.
18:04The certification.
18:05Aerospace.
18:06Thrives.
18:07On reproducible.
18:08Processes.
18:09And strictly.
18:10Speaking.
18:10A printer.
18:11With a slightly.
18:12Aged laser.
18:13Or a new.
18:14Powder.
18:15Batch.
18:15Is a new.
18:18Third.
18:18The case.
18:19Of relativity.
18:19Showed that printing.
18:20For the sake.
18:21Of printing.
18:22Is not a business.
18:24A simple.
18:25Tank.
18:25Segment.
18:26Made of.
18:26Rolled.
18:27Sheet metal.
18:27Rebuttal.
18:27Is sometimes.
18:28Simply.
18:28Better.
18:29And cheaper.
18:30Than the same.
18:31Made by printing.
18:32The fact-based.
18:34Rebuttal.
18:34To all this.
18:35However.
18:35Is.
18:36That.
18:36These.
18:37Very.
18:37Growing.
18:37Panes.
18:38Are being.
18:39Resolved.
18:40With.
18:40Real-time.
18:41Process.
18:42Monitoring.
18:43Standardized.
18:43Powders.
18:44And growing.
18:45Flight.
18:45Databases.
18:46And.
18:46That the track.
18:48Speaks.
18:48For itself.
18:50Rutherford.
18:50Has been flying.
18:51Reliably.
18:51In regular.
18:52Service.
18:52For years.
18:53Super.
18:53Draco.
18:54Is human.
18:55Rated.
18:56And.
18:56Ariane 6.
18:58Also flies.
18:59With printed parts.
19:00My honest.
19:01I believe.
19:023D printing.
19:03Is to spaceflight.
19:04What the printing press.
19:05Was to knowledge.
19:07Namely.
19:07A completely different.
19:08Logic of distribution.
19:10The value.
19:11Doesn't lie.
19:11In a printed part.
19:12Being cheaper.
19:13But rather.
19:14That a file.
19:15Turns into hardware.
19:16Wherever.
19:17There's a printer.
19:18Even.
19:18On mars.
19:19And.
19:20I suspect.
19:21That the first.
19:22Real.
19:22Mars workshop.
19:23Will look.
19:26Time.
19:26But it'll actually work.
19:28That's just speculation.
19:29But it's one.
19:30I stand behind.
19:31And before we wrap up.
19:33A big.
19:34Goes to.
19:34Georg Schöpf.
19:35Editor-in-Chief.
19:36Of the magazine.
19:37Additive Fertigung.
19:38From.
19:39Verlag.
19:39X-Technik.
19:40For helping.
19:41With this script.
19:42I will of course.
19:43Link the magazine.
19:44Down below for you.
19:45My name is Sirvan.
19:46And this.
19:46Was Mars Chronic.
19:48Thanks for tuning in.
19:49Per Aspera.
19:50Ad Astra.
19:56To be continued.
19:57To be continued.