3D space printing video

National World

Dr Gilles Bailet, of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, has been awarded a patent for a new system which overcomes the challenges of 3D printing in zero-gravity.

Transcript

00:00We are trying to make space sustainable.

00:06As the cost of flushing things in space is decreasing,

00:10we are seeing more and more things sent in space,

00:12and this is not sustainable.

00:14Our idea is to be able to manufacture things directly in space

00:18using 3D printing,

00:20and by doing so we open the door to recycling in space

00:23and to have a full circular economy.

00:25In space we can manufacture many things,

00:27from drugs to novel antennas.

00:30In our group we are focusing on enhancing existing spacecraft,

00:35so 3D printing radiators, antennas, solar panels.

00:39Thanks to the support of IA, we are able to do parabolic flights,

00:44so it's what we also call the Vomit Comet,

00:47where we have a plane doing roller coasters in the air,

00:52and at the top of every parabola

00:55we have 20 seconds of microgravity,

00:57which duplicates the conditions that we have in space,

01:00where the gravity does not affect the motion of objects anymore,

01:04and we are able to demonstrate our two new technologies with this test.

01:09Seeing the technology actually working perfectly as I designed it

01:14was really breathtaking, a lot of emotions,

01:17and now we know that our technology is working in a space environment,

01:21and we'll be able to do the first demonstration in space

01:24in the next milestone of our technology development.

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