To test their invention, the team took their prototype on a series of flights aboard the “vomit comet” – an aircraft that simulates weightlessness. It is called so due to flights’ effect on passengers as it simulates microgravity by performing sharp ascents and descents.
The researchers believe that successful 3D printing in space could lead to orbital factories, which could produce innovative equipment, such as antennas.
“Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is capable of producing remarkably complex materials quickly and at low cost. Putting that technology in space and printing what we need for assembly in orbit would be fantastically useful,” said Dr Gilles Bailet.