New Alloys, Nanotubes and In-Orbit 3D Printing Rewire Space Manufacturing
Seen in this video, the first metal 3D printing successfully took place in May 2024 aboard the International Space Station (ISS), within ESA’s Columbus laboratory module.
Credit: ESA/Airbus
Lighter, Tougher, Printed—From Suits To Stations
Additive manufacturing (AM) stopped being a gimmick when flight-relevant parts began leaving laboratories and entering test campaigns. What’s changed is the materials set: printable superalloys that keep strength at extreme temperatures, nanocomposites that shrug off radiation, and metal printing moving off the factory floor and into orbit. Taken together, these advances shorten supply-chains, de-risk schedules, and allow mission designers to optimise for performance rather than what fits inside a fairing—improving spacesuits and engines now, and laying credible groundwork for larger stations, orbital factories and, one day, mega-structures.
The signal is clearest in flight-like demonstrations. NASA recently designed and balloon-flight-tested a 3D-printed antenna to move mission data—small hardware by mass, but big for process: “print-to-fly” workflows compress design cycles and unit costs for comms, sensors and RF payloads where iteration speed matters. It’s a concrete example of AM producing mission-grade components rather than lab curios.
Under the skin, materials science is doing the heavy lifting. GRX-810, a 3D-printable oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) nickel superalloy, was engineered to retain strength and ductility at temperatures where many AM alloys soften. NASA’s latest data shows orders-of-magnitude improvement in creep life around ~1093 °C versus common printable superalloys, notable oxidation stability up to ~1300 °C, and successful hot-fire of a liquid oxygen/methane injector and nozzle—evidence that this isn’t just coupon-level promise. Engines, hot structures and thermal components can be lighter for a given margin, or run hotter for the same mass—both are commercial wins.
Ceramic matrix composites (SiC/SiC) with environmental barrier coatings add another tool for the hottest zones, offering high strength-to-weight with oxidation protection. While much of this work began in aero-turbomachinery, the same properties map into space propulsion and thermal protection where every kilogram and cycle count. The important point for programme teams: these classes of material are maturing with test methods and processing know-how that procurement can actually specify.
For crewed operations, materials innovation is about uptime and safety, not just grams. Lunar EVA will abuse textiles with sharp, electrostatically clingy dust; ISS-era glove fabrics are unlikely to be sufficient. NASA and partners are standardising abrasion and cut tests to qualify tougher glove/suit stacks—think next-generation aramids, Vectran blends and protective architectures designed for Moon dust and micrometeoroid/space-debris risk. AM complements this by enabling bespoke rigid or semi-rigid components (joint housings, bearings, housings for soft-magnetic actuators) that can be iterated fast as field experience comes in.
The step-change, however, is manufacturing where you use things. In 2024–25 Europe flew—and then operated—the first metal 3D printer on the International Space Station. Even a simple printed “S-curve” bead in stainless steel is a milestone: it proves pathfinder process control and safety on orbit. The immediate prize isn’t printing a whole spacecraft; it’s printing brackets, thermal interfaces and replacement parts without waiting for a cargo slot. Over time, metal AM and robotic assembly will free designers from payload-fairing constraints, allowing longer, lighter booms, radiators and truss elements sized for performance. NASA’s OSAM-2 programme, while concluded in 2023, captured valuable lessons on in-space beam manufacture and deployment that feed directly into the next generation of on-orbit assembly concepts.
On radiation, boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) composites are attracting attention. BNNTs combine high strength-to-weight with hydrogen content (good for slowing fast neutrons), and early NASA work has tested BNNT-polyethylene laminates for shielding performance. While still pre-product, they point toward lighter garment layers and structural panels that protect crews without over-building mass.
What about the long-horizon “sci-fi” plays such as a space-elevator? The physics is uncompromising. A space-elevator tether demands specific strengths that today’s macro-scale fibres can’t yet reach. Single-layer graphene boasts ~1 TPa modulus and ~130 GPa tensile strength in ideal conditions, but translating those properties from pristine sheets to kilometre-scale fibres with real defects remains an unsolved engineering problem. The correct posture is R&D with realistic milestones: invest in defect-tolerant architectures, scalable spinning, in-line metrology and statistical quality control rather than offering over-optimistic predictions.
The Commercial Story: From Digital Stock To On-Orbit Service
In terms of positioning, treat “materials + AM” as a resilience product, not a gadget. Shift spare-parts strategies from physical inventory to digital stock plus validated print files, with clear rules for when to print on Earth, print in orbit, or fly a spare. Every move that shortens the longest lead item lifts delivery confidence for the entire mission stack. NASA’s 3D-printed antenna is a case study in how low-mass, high-iteration subsystems benefit first; engines and thermal structures follow as printable superalloys like GRX-810 complete qualification.
Adoption Levers
Qualification pipelines: Move from “coupons → subscale articles → hot-fire/thermal-vac → flight.” Publish acceptance criteria (porosity, surface finish, NDE methods) so suppliers can build to spec. GRX-810’s creep/oxidation data is the kind of evidence buyers need.
Digital thread: Lock materials pedigrees, print parameters and post-processing into configuration-controlled records. That’s how you repeat properties across printers and vendors.
Where to print: Earth for long-duration parts with tight metrology; orbit for time-sensitive replacements, large aspect-ratio structures and elements that benefit from micro-gravity assembly. ESA’s first on-orbit metal prints are the proof-point.
Standards & safety cases: Use emerging test methods for suit fabrics and AM parts to cut certification cycles; build reliability models around AM-specific defects rather than borrowing legacy part statistics.
Market Path
Near term (now–2027): Flight-rate the small stuff—antennas, brackets, thermal doublers, and engine subcomponents printed in advanced alloys; qualify tougher suit fabrics with standardised tests.
Next (2027–2032): On-orbit repair prints and structural elements for stations (booms, radiator panels), integrating robotic assembly lessons from NASA’s OSAM-2-era work.
Beyond (2032+): Orbital factories that print and assemble truss-rich platforms sized for function, not fairings; sustained R&D in defect-tolerant macro-scale nanotube/graphene fibres keeps the door open for far-future mega-structures.
The destination is not a single breakthrough but a compounding capability: print lighter, tougher parts where and when you need them, with properties you can trust. That is how materials science and additive manufacturing, together, will change the economics of suits, rockets and spacecraft—and gradually make today’s science-fiction feel like ordinary engineering.
