A Satellite 3D-Printed a Beam in Orbit, Without Anyone on Board
一颗卫星在太空里打印出了一根横梁
德国初创公司 Orbital Matter 的小卫星 Replicator 2 在自由飞行状态下用 3D 打印制造出约半米长的树脂横梁：先挤出树脂、再用紫外线固化。这是首次在非加压舱内的在轨打印，为太空建造大型结构铺路。
Orbital Matter's Replicator 2 extruded and cured a half-metre resin beam in free flight — the first time such a structure has been printed outside a pressurised module.
A small German satellite has 3D-printed a rigid beam about half a metre long in orbit — the first time a free-flying spacecraft has made a structural part this way, according to the company behind it. Orbital Matter says the demonstration is a step towards building large structures in space rather than folding them up on the ground.
The satellite, Replicator 2, launched this summer on a SpaceX rideshare and carries four of the company's printers. Each extrudes a bead of resin and cures it with ultraviolet light, a process Orbital Matter compares to mixing cement with water and letting it set.
The motivation is size. Spacecraft that need more power, and need to dump more heat, have to grow — orbital data centres being the obvious case. But anything launched has to fit inside a rocket's fairing, and that ceiling does not move. If a spacecraft can build its own structure once it is up there, both problems become easier to solve.
Today's large space structures are mostly folded. Solar arrays and telescope mirrors are origami-packed for launch and unfolded in orbit, which is intricate engineering with little margin for error. Printing the structure in place trades that complexity for a manufacturing problem.
It has been tried before, but not in free flight. NASA funded work with Redwire that printed a beam inside a vacuum chamber in 2023, and earlier microgravity printing happened inside the pressurised volume of the International Space Station. Replicator 2 was outside, on a spacecraft flying on its own.
Not everything worked. Two of the four printers were meant to deploy flexible solar arrays, and one failed; the other still produced a strut that unfolded an array, which counts as a proof of concept. The printed beam's length was limited by how much resin the satellite carried, but its engineers argue that beams of 100 metres are feasible. For comparison, the solar arrays on SpaceX's Starlink V2 satellites are about 20 metres across.
Orbital Matter, founded in 2022 and backed by a $3 million seed round, is working with the European Space Agency and Thales Alenia Space. A second test flight is planned for 2028 with a larger printer on a larger satellite, aiming at a 5-kilowatt array. The company's target for 2030 is more than 100 kilowatts per side.
中文翻译（全文）
一颗德国小卫星在轨道上用 3D 打印制造出一根约半米长的刚性横梁——按其背后的公司说法，这是自由飞行航天器首次以这种方式造出结构件。Orbital Matter 称，这次演示是迈向「在太空直接建造大型结构」的一步，而不是在地面上把它们折叠起来。
这颗名为 Replicator 2 的卫星今年夏天搭乘 SpaceX 拼车任务升空，搭载了该公司的四台打印机。每台打印机挤出一段树脂，再用紫外线固化——Orbital Matter 把这个过程比作把水泥和水混合后等它凝固。
动机是尺寸。需要更多电力、也需要散发更多热量的航天器必须变大，轨道数据中心就是最明显的例子。但任何被发射上去的东西都得塞进火箭整流罩里，而这个上限不会变。如果航天器能在上天之后自己造出结构，这两个问题都会更容易解决。
如今的大型太空结构大多是折叠的。太阳能电池阵列和望远镜镜面在发射前像折纸一样收起来，入轨后再展开——这是精细的工程，容错空间很小。就地打印则把这种复杂度换成了一个制造问题。
此前有人尝试过，但不是在自由飞行中。NASA 资助过与 Redwire 的合作，2023 年在真空舱内打印出一根横梁；更早的微重力打印则发生在国际空间站加压舱内部。而 Replicator 2 是在舱外，在一艘自主飞行的航天器上完成的。
并非一切顺利。四台打印机中有两台本用于展开柔性太阳能电池阵列，其中一台出了故障；另一台仍然制造出一根支撑杆，成功展开了阵列，算是一次概念验证。打印横梁的长度受限于卫星携带的树脂量，但工程师认为 100 米长的横梁是可行的。作为对照，SpaceX 星链 V2 卫星的太阳能电池阵列宽约 20 米。
Orbital Matter 成立于 2022 年，完成过 300 万美元种子轮融资，目前与欧洲航天局及泰雷兹阿莱尼亚宇航公司合作。第二次技术验证任务计划于 2028 年发射，届时将使用更大的打印机和更大的卫星，目标是展开一套 5 千瓦的阵列。公司 2030 年的目标，是让单侧阵列输出超过 100 千瓦。
重点词汇
- extrude /ɪkˈstruːd/ v. — to push material out through a shaped opening 挤出 Each printer extrudes a bead of resin.
- cure /kjʊə/ v. — to harden a material using heat, light or chemicals 固化 Ultraviolet light cures the resin.
- fairing /ˈfeərɪŋ/ n. — the nose cone that protects a payload during launch 整流罩 Everything must fit inside the fairing.
- origami /ˌɒrɪˈɡɑːmi/ n. — the Japanese art of folding paper into shapes 折纸 Arrays are origami-packed for launch.
- pressurised /ˈpreʃəraɪzd/ adj. — kept at normal atmospheric pressure inside 加压的 Earlier printing happened in a pressurised module.
- strut /strʌt/ n. — a support that holds part of a structure in place 支撑杆 The strut unfolded an array.
- proof of concept /pruːf əv ˈkɒnsept/ n. — a small demonstration that an idea can work 概念验证 That counts as a proof of concept.
- feasible /ˈfiːzəbl/ adj. — possible to do in practice 可行的 Beams of 100 metres are feasible.
- deploy /dɪˈplɔɪ/ v. — to unfold or bring equipment into a working position 展开；部署 One printer failed to deploy its array.
- resin /ˈrezɪn/ n. — a thick liquid that hardens into a solid plastic 树脂 The beam is made of cured resin.
阅读测验
共 5 道题目
What did the satellite do?
Why does printing in orbit help?
All four printers on the satellite worked as planned.
Which points does the article make? (Select all that apply)
The company's target for 2030 is more than 100 _____ per side of solar array.
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