NASA ODME EHD Ink Jet Printer Advanced Toolplate Integration

The NASA On Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) overall project goal is to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of a low-gravity, on-demand manufacturing system for flexible hybrid electronic devices on the International Space Station (ISS). Thin film printing methods are necessary to create more intricate electronic devices in a smaller size due to better feature and line resolution. A thin film printing technology that is well suited for performance in microgravity, EHD ink jet printing, needs to be integrated into the multi-materials printer to produce complete devices.

Summary of Flight Test
2024-08-20 The parabolic flight campaign was successful in demonstrating the Advanced Toolplate System (ATS) in a zerogravity environment. Several tools required to enable additive manufacturing of electronic devices were validated during the campaign, including the SmartPump for direct ink write, extrusion-based printing, nPnP for component pick and place functionality, as well as the ultraviolet light and 445nm laser tools.
2024-08-21 The flight campaign achieved valuable results that concluded the capability of the Sciperio EHD printer to perform well under a zero-gravity environment. This conclusion was proved by printing several good silver lines successfully during the zero gravity 30-second period. Another additional achievement is that this printer showed it is the capability of printing another material which is ZnO ink.

One of the main advantages to the nScrypt multi-material printer is the swappable nature of the toolheads. This will allow for newly developed technologies to easily be incorporated into the existing platform. The ODME project has been working since 2020 to determine a thin film deposition system that is suitable for use in microgravity. Thin film printing has several benefits over thick film direct ink write printing, including the ability to create more intricate electronic devices in a smaller size due to better feature and line resolution. This technology is especially well suited for flexible and wearable applications, such as sensors or crew health monitoring patches.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.