NRC Finds Too Much Hype About In-Space 3-D Printing

NRC Finds Too Much Hype About In-Space 3-D Printing

The National Research Council (NRC) released a report today that makes no bones about its skepticism regarding the utility of 3-D printing in space at the present time, saying claims in the popular press are “exaggerated” and it is no “magic solution.”

Formally called “additive manufacturing,” this technology allows three-dimensional (3-D) parts to be built directly from computer files.  It has been in use terrestrially since the 1980s and is becoming more wide-spread. Using it in space presents unique challenges, however.  The vacuum, lack of gravity and intense thermal fluctuations are obstacles that must be overcome; they are important not only in completing the manufacturing process, but in the integrity of the final product, according to the NRC.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert D. Latiff  (Ret.), who chaired the NRC committee, and his colleagues found that while 3-D printing “is a fairly mature technology for components that can be manufactured on the ground, its application in space is not feasible today, except for very limited and experimental purposes.”

“Many of the claims made in the popular press about this technology have been exaggerated,” Latiff said in a press release.  Even in the longer term, it will be “one more tool in the toolbox” and “not a magic solution.”

That is not to say that the committee rejected the idea of in-space 3-D printing entirely.  Indeed, the report begins by saying it has “the potential to positively affect human spaceflight operations by enabling the in-orbit manufacturing of replacement parts and tools,” thereby reducing logistics requirements for the International Space Station (ISS) and human trips beyond low Earth orbit.  However, the “specific benefits and potential scope … remain undetermined, and there has been a substantial degree of exaggeration, even hype, about its capabilities in the short term.”

As for the longer term, “[w]hat can be accomplished in the far future depends on many factors, including decisions made today by NASA and the Air Force.” The study was sponsored by those two entities and offering them advice is the focus of the NRC report.

Many of the recommendations involve the two working together in this field.  Indeed, the report’s first recommendation is that NASA and the Air Force jointly “research, identify, develop and gain consensus on standard qualification and certification methodologies for different applications,” and bring in other government agencies and industry as well.  The committee also recommends a joint cost-benefit analysis of 3-D printing for building smaller, more reliable satellite systems or their key components.

Among the committee’s recommendations for NASA alone is that the agency sponsor a workshop to bring together experts in the field and improve communications internally and externally since input from multiple disciplines is required.  It should also create an agency-wide technology roadmap and quickly identify experiments that it can develop and test aboard the ISS while that facility is still available.  Under current plans, ISS will operate until 2024, just 10 more years.

The Air Force should also develop a roadmap, conduct a systems-analytic study of the operational utility of spacecraft and their components produced with 3-D printing, and “make every effort” to cooperate with NASA on technology development.  That includes conducting its own research on the ISS, jointly sharing the costs and the results with NASA.

Both agencies should consider increased investments in education and training of materials scientists with this expertise and spacecraft designers and engineers with deep knowledge of the use and development of 3-D printing, the committee recommended.

Latiff is a materials scientist himself and spent part of his military career at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).  Later he was vice president, chief engineer, and technology officer for SAIC’s space and geospatial intelligence unit.  He is a former chair of the NRC’s National Materials and Manufacturing Board (of which he is still a member) and of the NRC’s Air Force Studies Board.  A full roster of committee members is provided in the report, which can be downloaded for free from the website of the National Academies Press.

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