As space missions reach more distant points from Earth — such as the Moon and Mars — resupplying necessary parts and equipment becomes an even greater challenge. The possibility of printing equipment on demand from astronauts in metal would be a solution to stop depending on sending parts from Earth.
The printer was built by Airbus and its partners, with Cranfield University in the UK involved in the design of the printer's fusion process and hardware, as well as its laser source, delivery optics, raw material storage and feeding system.
Printing operations were supervised by CNES (French space agency) and its control center for International Space Station payloads.