Hours:
16 hours (4 credits)
Room:
Aula Riunioni del Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Via G. Caruso 16, Pisa - Ground Floor
To register to the course, click here
Short Abstract:
Since a couple of years, space flight is again developing strongly including several successful mis-sions to Mars. The next big goal is to send humans again to Moon and establish the Deep Space Gateway, which is seen as the prerequisite for manned missions to Mars that are also already un-der investigation. Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies do play an important role nowadays in fabrication of parts for spaceships and extraterrestrial vehicles and it is generally accepted that 3D printers will be used in space in near future for the production of spare parts. Other research is focussed on utilising autonomous AM robots for building protective housings on Moon (or later Mars) prior to the arrival of first astronauts.
Also 3D bioprinting, which is defined as AM with live cells is under intense investigation for appli-cations in space. The European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to install a bioprinter in the ESA Biolab at ISS, which shall become functional in 2025. Primarily, such devices shall be utilised for the on-site fabrication of three-dimensional tissue models that can be used for exploration of the effects of space conditions like microgravity and radiation on organised human tissues and 3D cell constructs. In the long-term, bioprinting might become a powerful tool for the generation of tis-sues for medical treatments of injured or ill astronauts in the upcoming far-distant, manned space missions. The doctoral course shall give an overview of these fascinating developments.
Course Contents in brief:
- Topic 1: Additive Manufacturing (AM) and respective materials relevant in space flight
- Topic 2: AM of housings on the Mon using locally available materials
- Topic 3: 3D bioprinting technologies for the fabrication of living tissue models
- Topic 4: Proposed utilisation of bioprinting in manned space missions
Schedule:
- Day 1 – 11:00-12:00, 13:00-17:30
- Day 2 – 9:00-12:00, 13:00-15:30
- Day 3 – 9:00-12:00, 13:00-15:00
