SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket broke through the atmosphere in 2016 to send 120 HP ZBook workstations to the International Space Station (ISS), and now HP printers will soon embark on a journey into space - HP will become NASA International Space Station's exclusive print provider.
Hewlett-Packard has announced that it will provide 50 printers for the NASA International Space Station and the first 4 printers will be sent to the International Space Station, two for day-to-day operations and the other two to deal with unexpected failures, and the remaining printers will be stored on the ground In the future, printers on the space station will be replaced once every two years until the ISS is no longer in service.
In space astronauts how to print it? In order to prevent the printing paper flying, HP's special printing system department designed for NASA designed and developed for zero-gravity printer environment.
Astronauts also need a printer?
Ron Stephens, a R & D manager at HP's Special Printing Systems Group (SPS), has played a significant role in this project, with SPS responsible for the end-to-end business of Hewlett-Packard with around 100 employees worldwide and is primarily responsible for Use HP's printing technology to meet a variety of unique application needs, such as passport printing and even printing on nails.
Why does cosmonauts need a printer in space? Stephens explains: 'Astronauts need to print mission-critical steps and up-to-date emergency program manuals or print back-up files to prevent the station's electronics or other devices from malfunctioning. Also, astronauts have Personal print needs, such as printing the letters and photos they received.
Ron Stephens said: 'NASA is looking for a combination of two printers: it's not just an enterprise printer that's networked with NASA, but it's also a home printer that caters to individual needs. On average, The printer needs to print about 500 sheets of paper a month, which needs to be prepared in advance to ensure the astronauts can finish the printing smoothly.
Zero gravity challenge
Designing and developing printers for outer space means that all issues must be reconsidered. NASA asked HP a number of requirements, such as printers that require flame retardant plastics and can not contain glass, which means scanning, copying, and faxing Must be removed The printer must support Ethernet and wireless connectivity, and most HP home printers do not have both configurations.
Ron Stephens: "Our work started with the printer platform (Naples), which supports both ENVY printers (for home use) and OfficeJet printers (for the enterprise), which brings us closest to what NASA needs. The biggest challenge is dealing with zero Gravity, all problems have to be reversed. Printed paper can be stacked in layers because of the presence of gravity, but without gravity. What should be done with the printed paper? No one wants to see the paper floating around in the space station. So we spent a lot of time designing the input and output trays. '
To meet NASA's requirements, Ron Stephens and his team conducted a creative design and reshaped them using 3D printing technology. "Ron Stephens said:" We've designed a component that grips the paper under zero-gravity conditions. Making the design of this printer innovative and dramatically reducing the number of components through the production of 3D printed parts, the printer is more stable and reliable due to fewer points of failure.
It is HP's Multi Jet Fusion technology that gives Ron Stephens's team more agility, a 3D printing technology that enables teams to deliver small batches while achieving the high durability NASA expects.
Printer cartridges do not need to be redesigned because they are controlled by surface tension and capillary forces and do not rely on gravity to work, so NASA can buy existing cartridges on the market.
The final test: simulated zero gravity test
How can we ensure that these printers work properly in zero-gravity environments? Ron Stephens explains: 'The zero-gravity environment is difficult to replicate, presenting new challenges for our zero-gravity design and testing. "While many can be obtained from simulation testing Information, but the simulated environment is not the real one after all, and we put the printer on a plane capable of simulating a zero-gravity environment for the final system validation test so we finally verified that the printer was working smoothly on the space station.
Fighting side by side 'Star Trek'
Ron said: 'I've been involved in many cool and unique projects for 24 years at Hewlett-Packard. The NASA project is particularly noticeable, and it has given me nearly an experience of becoming astronaut.'
He also emphasized that this was a result of teamwork and highlighted several members who played a key role in the success of the project as well as partners working side by side with HP's Special Printing Systems division such as the manufacturing team in Singapore, Solution platform team, and NASA team.
Under the plan, the ENVY printer for zero-gravity environment will be delivered by the SpaceX 14 rocket to the International Space Station in February 2018 and will operate on the International Space Station Mission 55 from March 2018 onwards.
