Printing in Space: Bioprinting in Microgravity
Without gravity, soft tissues don’t collapse as they print. That is why bioprinters have been flown to the International Space Station.
On Earth, gravity pulls soft bioinks flat before they can set. In orbit, that problem largely disappears, which is why researchers have sent bioprinters to the International Space Station.
What’s been tried
- Redwire’s BioFabrication Facility (BFF): launched to the ISS in 2019 to test printing tissue in microgravity, including a printed meniscus-type tissue sample in later experiments.
- Russian magnetic bioprinting: in 2018, cosmonauts used a magnetic levitation bioprinter to assemble cartilage and thyroid tissue constructs on the ISS.
Why it matters on Earth
Space-printed tissue could mature in orbit and return for research, while lessons about printing soft materials without collapse feed back into Earth-based methods like FRESH and volumetric printing.
And for astronauts
Long missions to Mars will need on-demand medicine. Printing skin or bone grafts on a spacecraft is a long-term goal for space agencies.
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