Created: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2023-02-26
Company - Thales Alenia Space
Product/Service - POP3D
- Classification
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Category
- In-Space Manufacturing
Hardware
Commercial Space Station
- Fields
- Additive Manufacturing (3D printing)
Commercial ISS Module
- Status
- Demonstrated
- First launch
- 2015
Additive Manufacturing
Europe’s very first 3D printer in space.
Funded by the Italian space agency ASI, the POP3D (Portable On-Board Printer) for 3D printing reached orbit in 2015. The compact, cube-shaped printer measures 25 cm per side and weighs 5.5 kg in Earth gravity. It prints in biodegradable and harmless PLA plastic, using a heat-based process called ‘fused filament fabrication’.
POP3D typically takes about half an hour to produce a single plastic part, which was subsequently returned to the ground for detailed testing, including comparison to an otherwise identical part printed on the ground. The Italian Institute of Technology assisted with post-flight examinations.
Space Station Modules
The status and first launch currently applies to the POP3D printer because most other activities are studies.
Product/Service - Start, Cis-Lunar Transfer Vehicle (CLTV), IMAGIN-e
- Classification
- In-Space Transportation
- Category
- Space Tug
On-Orbit Servicing
Propellant Refilling
Propellant Refuel Station
In-Orbit Computing
- Fields
- On-Orbit Servicing
Edge Computing
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2026
In-Orbit Servicing
Cis-Lunar Transfer Vehicle (CLTV)
IMAGIN-e (ISS Mounted Accessible Global Imaging Nod-e)
Created: 2023-02-05
Updated: 2023-02-26
Product/Service - ASCEND
- Classification
- Miscellaneous
- Category
- In-Orbit Computing
In-Orbit Data Storage
- Status
- Concept
- First launch
- 2015
Data Centers in Orbit
- A consortium led by Thales Alenia Space has been set up to find an ambitious solution for Europe, namely to install data center stations in orbit, powered by solar power plants generating several hundred megawatts.
- This concept makes direct use of the energy produced in space outside of the earth atmosphere: the only link with the ground would be high-throughput Internet connections based on optical communications, a technique for which Europe has mastered the underlying technologies.
- The first objective of this study will be to assess if the carbon emissions from the production and launch of these space infrastructures will be significantly lower than the emissions generated by ground-based data centers, therefore contributing to the achievement of global carbon neutrality.
- The second objective will be to prove that it is possible to develop the required launch solution and to ensure the deployment and operability of these spaceborne data centers using robotic assistance technologies currently being developed in Europe, such as the EROSS IOD demonstrator.
Created: 2023-02-18
Updated: 2023-02-26
Product/Service - Receiv'Air
- Classification
- Space Utilities
- Category
- Space Solar Power
Power Beaming
- Fields
- Wireless Power Transfer
- Status
- Concept
- First launch
- Not announced
Study for Receiv'Air - Bypassing of atmospheric attenuation for SPS with airborne receiver.
Created: 2023-03-11
Updated: 2023-03-11
Product/Service
- Classification
- Space Resources
- Category
- In-Space Manufacturing
ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilization)
- Fields
- Moon
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- Not announced
ISRU
Created: 2022-04-17
Updated: 2023-02-26
Sources
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