NASA: Logo Challenge
Project Info:
In Space Manufacturing or ISM is responsible for developing the manufacturing capabilities that will provide on-demand, sustainable operations during NASA Exploration Missions (in-transit and on-surface). This includes testing and advancing the desired technologies, as well as establishing the required skills and processes (such as certification and characterization) that will enable the technologies to become institutionalized.
The key capabilities being developed in ISM to support this “make it, don’t take it” approach include developing a 3D printing Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) which can manufacture parts in space using multiple materials, as well as the ability to embed printed electronics, in-space recycling of printed parts and other materials such as packaging in order to reduce mass and waste, and manufacturing structures externally in space. In 2015, the ISM project made history by sending the first 3D printer to ISS and manufacturing the first parts ever in space. This was a critical first step in demonstrating additive manufacturing in microgravity.
