The answer to 3D printing equipment on Mars might lie in the Red Planet's dust
- Reference: 1662536230
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/09/07/mars_dust_3d_printing/
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Sending anything to space is expensive. It cost NASA about $54,000 per kilogram just to get something into Earth's orbit using space shuttles, according to research [1]published this summer in the International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology , while SpaceX [2]lists prices starting at $1.2 million to launch a 200kg payload.
A team of academics led by Washington State University (WSU) in the US believe launch costs can be cut if objects can be directly 3D printed in space instead of having to be flown in from Earth.
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"In space, 3D printing is something that has to happen if we want to think of a manned mission because we really cannot carry everything from here," Amit Bandyopadhyay, a professor in WSU's School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and co-author of the study, [4]opined in a statement on Tuesday. "And if we forget something, we cannot come back to get it."
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[7]NASA to send prototype robot surgeon into space
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Ideally, future astronauts will be able to obtain all the materials they need on the Moon or Mars to 3D print stuff. Therefore, researchers wanted to test whether Martian regolith could be used to create useful materials using a 3D printer.
To do so, they first forged a substance mimicking the combination of aluminium oxide, silica, iron oxide, and calcium oxide found on the Red Planet, and combined it with a titanium alloy powder. The material was then melted by a laser in a 3D printer, and deposited layer by layer to form a new object.
NASA sees our space future as both government and privately run [9]READ MORE
After the printed object cooled, the researchers tested its various physical properties – and found it was stronger than titanium alloy alone.
"If we add any ceramic to metal, they are called composites," Bandyopadhyay told The Register this week.
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"Adding ceramics increases the strength as it makes the materials much harder. Since the regolith is primarily a ceramic material, the addition of Martian regolith improves the strength of the titanium metal."
The composite material is strong enough to withstand high temperatures, making it potentially useful in roles such as engine parts. Adding higher concentrations of the simulated Martian dust, however, made the composite material more brittle. Composites made with just five percent fake regolith were strong, but at 100 percent the material cracked easily.
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Although the material seems promising, trying to operate a 3D printer on Mars introduces other difficulties.
"We have gravity on Earth. It is different on Mars. So, it is not just regular 3D printing; we need to consider the Mars environment to print something. Fortunately, the 3D printing technology has come a long way, and we are not far away from printing on the Lunar or Martian surfaces. We need to capture Solar energy to run these systems," Bandyopadhyay told us.
He hopes to 3D print more parts using different mixtures of metals and regolith in the future. Bandyopadhyay said the experiments show 3D printing using materials from the Moon and Mars is possible. Time will tell if it will become reality. ®
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[1] https://ceramics.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijac.14136
[2] https://rideshare.spacex.com/book/flight/762a6876-fd3a-4bcb-a4fe-6f9b2f69df82
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yxhruc39oenbQ5QKIjsJ9gAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://news.wsu.edu/press-release/2022/09/06/martian-rock-metal-composite-shows-potential-of-3d-printing-on-mars/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/06/nasas_spaceflight_computer_risc_v/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/01/perseverance_mars_moxie_oxygen/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/iss_robot_surgeon/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/nasa_mars_rock/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/04/nasa_spacex/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yxhruc39oenbQ5QKIjsJ9gAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yxhruc39oenbQ5QKIjsJ9gAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: So much for commercial space flight
Part of the objective of mining resources in space is so that you don't need to lift the resources out of the gravity well.
Every litre of water you can get from regolith or an asteroid is a litre of water already in space.
Plenty of solar energy in space to refine metals or bake ceramics which would be incredibly useful for long term habitation in space.
Mining asteroids for heavy metals like platinum would be marginally viable if they can use other material from the asteroid for uses in space.
Dropping stuff from space is a lot less expensive than getting stuff into space, if there's no live cargo all that's needed is to make sure the cargo container is not going too fast, a bit of ablative shielding (you could probably use the unwanted bits of asteroid for that) and a few parachutes and some guidance control both of which could probably be reused.
I'd agree space mining is not commercially viable now but give it a few years and that will change, research like this will speed that day along.
Re: So much for commercial space flight
> The same order of cost is probable for returning anything from space
Why would you think that? It's a lot easier to drop something than to lift it. Especially if it's not squishy. I mean, astronauts leave in rockets and return in capsules. And that's a type of cargo that needs to stay at relatively low G forces and temperatures for the entire duration of the trip, and the trip can't be too long either.
For raw minerals, you could pretty much just drop them in an ocean strapped to a balloon so they don't sink, and just enough rocket and parachute to keep them in one piece. I'm not a rocket scientist, but that sounds like at least a couple orders of magnitude cheaper than liftoff.
Okay, if your mining is done on the Moon or on Mars, then you have to first lift the stuff out of there, but most of the scenarios where you import low-value, high-mass raw goods from space should be looking at asteroids. No launch cost there.
Re: So much for commercial space flight
There's always a launch cost if you think about it, you have to accelerate in to a path to get you back to Earth, and then slow down when you get there.
Re: So much for commercial space flight
Getting back is relatively easy - you can aerobrake to lose most of the velocity.
Shuttle: $54k/kg
Falcon9: $6k/kg
Starship: Target: $10/kg (not 10k, 10)
I suspect Musk's aim of $10/kg is somewhat optimistic, but another factor of ten reduction is plausible.
So shuttle cargo better be worth it's weight in gold (currently $54,784)
Falcon 9 cargo is valued about as titanium (currently $5k ish?, hard to find)
Starship might be worth as much as silver (currently $589) or a little bit more than copper ($7)
So much for commercial space flight
" It cost NASA about $54,000 per kilogram just to get something into Earth's orbit using space shuttles [...] while SpaceX lists prices starting at $1.2 million to launch a 200kg payload. "
The same order of cost is probable for returning anything from space, so I seriously doubt the economics of ventures such as using moon matter as a resource or asteroid mining (which, however, have been proposed). Space exploration is very valuable as an extension of science, but other than for simple tasks such as the provision of Earth orbital satellites I can't see how it has a commercial future.