The researchers revealed that the soil Mars It could serve as a 3D-printing material, meaning it could be used to manufacture items on the Red Planet. In a series of tests, Amit Bandyopadhyay, a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University, and his team used simulations of crushed Martian soil to demonstrate its capabilities as a 3D printing material. dimensions, and the results may be crucial for future manned missions to Mars.
“In space, 3D printing is something that must happen if we want to think of a manned mission, because we really can’t carry everything from here,” Bandyopadhyay said in a statement. We can go back to get it.”
In addition to addressing logistical problems, manufacturing on Mars would reduce costs. The space shuttle, for example, each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of payload carried to low Earth orbit costs NASA $54,000.
The average distance between Earth and Mars is 140 million miles (225 million km), and the cost would be significantly higher to get supplies to the Red Planet than to the International Space Station in low Earth orbit.
In most 3D printing tests, the researchers mixed different amounts of simulated Martian regolith with a titanium alloy and tried to make a 3D printing material from pure simulated soil.