NASA’s strategic goal is to put humans on Mars in the 2030s. The NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) and NASA Mars Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 has determined that in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is an essential technology to accomplish this mission. Additive construction technology using in situ materials from planetary surfaces will reduce launch mass, allow structures to be three dimensionally (3D) printed on demand, and will allow building designs to be transmitted digitally from Earth and printed in space. This will ultimately lead to elimination of reliance on structural materials launched from Earth (zero launch mass of construction consumables). The zero launch mass (ZLM) 3D print head project addressed this need by developing a system that 3D prints using a mixture of in situ regolith and polymer as feedstock, determining the optimum mixture ratio and regolith particle size distribution, developing software to convert g-code into motion instructions for a FANUC robotic arm, printing test samples, performing materials testing, and printing a reduced scale habitable structure concept. This paper will focus on the ZLM 3D print head design, materials selection, software development, and lessons learned from operating the system in the NASA KSC Swamp Works Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations (GMRO) Laboratory.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Zero Launch Mass Three-Dimensional Print Head



    Conference:

    16th Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments ; 2018 ; Cleveland, Ohio


    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2018-11-15




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Zero Launch Mass Three Dimensional Print Head

    Mueller, Robert / Gelino, Nathan / Smith, Drew et al. | NTRS | 2018


    Zero Launch Mass Three Dimensional Print Head

    Mueller, Robert P. / Gelino, Nathan J. / Smith, Jonathan D. et al. | NTRS | 2018




    UAV Zero-Length Launch Control Law Design

    He, Chengchan / Sun, Zonghua / Wu, Liaoni | Springer Verlag | 2023