This morning a 3D printer made its way into space on the SpaceX Dragon, commercial cargo spaceship, from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The printer, which was developed by the California-based company Made in Space, is essentially a machine shop in space. It works by ejecting heated plastic that gets molded into a three-dimensional object.
The idea for the 3D printer began being discussed about three decades ago, according to NASA.
"It's sturdier than Earthly models to withstand the stresses of launch, and meets NASA's strict safety standards," reports The Associated Press. "The space agency envisions astronauts one day cranking out spare parts as needed. For now, it's a technology demonstrator, with a bigger and better model to follow next year."
A 3D printer has never been tested in space thus far, but the technology is attractive to space stations because it takes a lot of fuel to send materials into space, reports Gizmodo. With the printer, astronauts can make the materials once they get there.
The 3D printer, which cost $30 million, launched this morning from a Florida-based station.
"Nothing like a good launch," Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of mission assurance for SpaceX, tells AP while observing the spaceship takeoff this morning. "It's just fantastic."
