China achieves milestone with first in-space metal 3D printing test

BEIJING: China successfully conducted its first metal 3D printing experiment in space, marking a major advance in its in-orbit manufacturing abilities. The experiment was carried out by a retrievable scientific payload developed by the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as announced on Saturday.

The payload traveled to space on the Lihong-1 Y1 suborbital vehicle, a commercial recoverable spacecraft built by CAS Space for space tourism.

This vehicle completed its first test flight from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on January 12. According to CAS, after crossing the Kármán line—the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space—and reaching an altitude of about 120 kilometers, the experiment autonomously produced metal parts in the microgravity environment.

This successful mission shifts China’s space-based metal additive manufacturing technology from “ground-based research” to a new phase of “in-space engineering verification,” boosting its overall technological level to the global forefront, CAS stated.

This breakthrough will strongly drive the development of China’s space manufacturing technology and serve as a fundamental enabler for future space infrastructure development, it noted.

Conducting metal additive manufacturing in the special space environment is far more complicated than on Earth.

The Chinese research team has overcome a series of hard challenges, including stable material transport and forming under microgravity, full-process closed-loop control, and high-reliability coordination between the payload and the launch vehicle, according to the CAS.

The experiment concluded as the payload capsule executed a safe, parachute-assisted landing, and the team quickly recovered it. Scientists have successfully acquired crucial first-hand data. This invaluable information encompasses the melt pool’s dynamic characteristics, material transport processes, solidification behavior, and the mechanical properties and geometric precision of the parts printed in space.

The reliable Lihong-1 Y1 has proven to be an effective testbed, thanks to its low launch cost and high flexibility.

The spacecraft’s onboard payload featured metal 3D printing facilities, as well as a consignment of valuable rose seeds for an agricultural research project.

According to Deputy Chief Designer Wang Yingcheng, the team is developing the spacecraft for extensive reuse. Currently, engineers are focusing on intensive testing on incorporating crew life-support and highly reliable escape technologies. Wang expects these advancements to enhance low-cost suborbital scientific experiments and open opportunities for commercial space tourism.