CosmicMaker Proves LCD 3D Printing Can Work in Microgravity
For all the progress we have made in space exploration, there is still a major limitation that defines every mission: If you need something in space, you must make it then launch it from Earth.
Everything you see on a spacecraft is made on Earth, requires enormous amounts of complexity, and costs a fortune to transport to its required destination. Which forces missions to carefully consider every possible failure, long before a launch date.
The further we travel into space, the more important this challenge becomes. Resupplies begin to extend from months to years, or become impossible, highlighting just how important it is for missions to become more self-reliant.
CosmicMaker Proves LCD 3D Printing Can Work in Microgravity
For all the progress we have made in space exploration, there is still a major limitation that defines every mission: If you need something in space, you must make it then launch it from Earth.
Everything you see on a spacecraft is made on Earth, requires enormous amounts of complexity, and costs a fortune to transport to its required destination. Which forces missions to carefully consider every possible failure, long before a launch date.
The further we travel into space, the more important this challenge becomes. Resupplies begin to extend from months to years, or become impossible, highlighting just how important it is for missions to become more self-reliant.
That’s where CosmicMaker comes in
CosmicMaker is a space-based manufacturing platform designed to enable the production of functional components from advanced materials. By bringing manufacturing capabilities directly into space, CosmicMaker aims to reduce reliance on Earth launched hardware and support a more self-sufficient future for space missions.
The system is capable of processing polymer based materials through advanced 3D printing technology. This allows components to be manufactured on demand in microgravity environments, creating the potential to produce spare parts, tools, structural components, and mission-specific hardware, directly where they are needed, rather than transporting every item from Earth in advance.
By manufacturing parts in orbit, missions have reduced payload requirements, increase the effectiveness of the response to unexpected failures, and are able to adapt equipment to changing operational needs in real time.
That’s where CosmicMaker comes in
CosmicMaker is a space-based manufacturing platform designed to enable the production of functional components from advanced materials. By bringing manufacturing capabilities directly into space, CosmicMaker aims to reduce reliance on Earth launched hardware and support a more self-sufficient future for space missions.
The system is capable of processing polymer based materials through advanced 3D printing technology. This allows components to be manufactured on demand in microgravity environments, creating the potential to produce spare parts, tools, structural components, and mission-specific hardware, directly where they are needed, rather than transporting every item from Earth in advance.
By manufacturing parts in orbit, missions have reduced payload requirements, increase the effectiveness of the response to unexpected failures, and are able to adapt equipment to changing operational needs in real time.
Testing CosmicMaker in Variable Gravity
To prepare CosmicMaker for the realities of space-based manufacturing, the system needed to be tested in conditions that closely replicate the environment aboard a spacecraft. While ground-based testing and rotational simulations provided valuable development data, parabolic flights offered the closest practical way to evaluate CosmicMaker in real variable gravity conditions on Earth. These specially operated aircrafts create short periods of microgravity by flying a series of carefully controlled manoeuvres.
Our mission was ambitious: to successfully 3D print a selection of parts in a range of photopolymers, silicon carbide and alumina while operating in constantly changing gravity conditions, including both microgravity (~0g) and hyper gravity (~2g).
Over the course of three days, three independently controlled CosmicMaker systems were operated simultaneously aboard the aircraft. Unlike a traditional manufacturing environment, the challenge extended far beyond simply printing in microgravity. During each parabola, the systems were repeatedly subjected to rapid gravitational transitions, moving from hyper gravity phases of approximately 2G during aircraft pull-ups, into periods of near-zero gravity, before returning again.
These repeated transitions introduce significant engineering challenges, affecting flow characteristics, stability, and print consistency. In order to maintain precise and reliable printing performance across multiple resins and ceramic based materials, CosmicMaker needed to remain stable and operational throughout every phase of the flight, including conditions such as hyper gravity, which would not normally exist aboard a spacecraft.
One of the most important findings of the campaign was that CosmicMaker’s printing process was not fundamentally limited by microgravity itself. Instead, the primary challenges came from managing dynamic acceleration, vibration, and mechanical disturbances during gravity transitions.
Despite these challenges, CosmicMaker successfully produced parts using photopolymers and silicon carbide, while also validating alumina processing behaviour under variable gravity conditions. These results have marked a major milestone in the development of in-space manufacturing and demonstrated CosmicMaker’s ability to operate in the highly dynamic conditions associated with spaceflight preparation. The campaign also validated the printing subsystem at Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL 6), demonstrating operation in a relevant spaceflight environment.
More importantly, the campaign represented a critical step toward enabling future missions to manufacture components on demand, helping move long-duration space exploration closer to true operational self-sufficiency.
The campaign demonstrated that the core concept behind CosmicMaker works in variable gravity conditions, with the remaining challenges focused on mechanical optimisation, process stability, and system refinement for future space deployment.
These repeated transitions introduce significant engineering challenges, affecting flow characteristics, stability, and print consistency. In order to maintain precise and reliable printing performance across multiple resins and ceramic based materials, CosmicMaker needed to remain stable and operational throughout every phase of the flight, including conditions such as hyper gravity, which would not normally exist aboard a spacecraft.
One of the most important findings of the campaign was that CosmicMaker’s printing process was not fundamentally limited by microgravity itself. Instead, the primary challenges came from managing dynamic acceleration, vibration, and mechanical disturbances during gravity transitions.
Despite these challenges, CosmicMaker successfully produced parts using photopolymers and silicon carbide, while also validating alumina processing behaviour under variable gravity conditions. These results have marked a major milestone in the development of in-space manufacturing and demonstrated CosmicMaker’s ability to operate in the highly dynamic conditions associated with spaceflight preparation. The campaign also validated the printing subsystem at Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL 6), demonstrating operation in a relevant spaceflight environment.
More importantly, the campaign represented a critical step toward enabling future missions to manufacture components on demand, helping move long-duration space exploration closer to true operational self-sufficiency.
The campaign demonstrated that the core concept behind CosmicMaker works in variable gravity conditions, with the remaining challenges focused on mechanical optimisation, process stability, and system refinement for future space deployment.
Our Vision
CosmicMaker represents more than manufacturing parts in microgravity, it is a shift in how humanity will build, maintain and expand infrastructure beyond Earth.
As both space agencies and commercial operators move toward long-duration lunar missions, permanent orbital stations, and eventually, human exploration of Mars, the ability to manufacture directly in space will become essential. Future crews cannot rely on constant resupply missions from Earth for every tool, spare component, or structural part they may need. Instead, spacecraft and habitats will require systems that can adapt, repair, and reproduce critical hardware on demand.
Our vision for CosmicMaker is to help enable that future.
Our Vision
CosmicMaker represents more than manufacturing parts in microgravity, it is a shift in how humanity will build, maintain and expand infrastructure beyond Earth.
As both space agencies and commercial operators move toward long-duration lunar missions, permanent orbital stations, and eventually, human exploration of Mars, the ability to manufacture directly in space will become essential. Future crews cannot rely on constant resupply missions from Earth for every tool, spare component, or structural part they may need. Instead, spacecraft and habitats will require systems that can adapt, repair, and reproduce critical hardware on demand.
Our vision for CosmicMaker is to help enable that future.
By developing flexible, scalable in-space manufacturing systems capable of processing advanced materials, CosmicMaker aims to support a new generation of autonomous space infrastructure. The long-term goal is not simply to transport equipment into space, but to create the capability to build and sustain infrastructure once we arrive there.
The successful parabolic flight campaign represents an important step toward that future. While there is still engineering work ahead, the campaign demonstrated that the foundations of space-based manufacturing are already possible today.
By developing flexible, scalable in-space manufacturing systems capable of processing advanced materials, CosmicMaker aims to support a new generation of autonomous space infrastructure. The long-term goal is not simply to transport equipment into space, but to create the capability to build and sustain infrastructure once we arrive there.
The successful parabolic flight campaign represents an important step toward that future. While there is still engineering work ahead, the campaign demonstrated that the foundations of space-based manufacturing are already possible today.