When they are not busy spacewalking, astronauts carry out the same boring tasks as us — like printing. But, chances are, the printer in your home is newer than the one on the International space station (ISS). The heap of junk aboard the spacecraft is seventeen years old, making it ripe for replacement. Enter HP, that is sending up a customized Envy model to save the astronauts from more embarrassment.
The company claims it retrofitted the printer to work in zero-gravity using 3D printed components and specialised materials. Still, it’s extremely not that completely different from a regular H.P. printer, but the ISS crew can probably just be happy if it does not cause paper jams or drink too much ink — we can’t even imagine what a pain it might be to keep sending ink cartridges into space.
If you are wondering what astronauts print on the ISS, it’s things like emergency procedural ebooks, inventory trajectories, timelines, and personal things, together with letters and photos. Altogether, they get through around 2 reams of paper (roughly 1,000 pages) per month.
And, what about the old printer? it is a “museum piece,” said Stephen Hunter, manager of ISS computer resources, once describing the Epson 800 Inkjet to Mashable. But, instead of replacement it earlier, NASA simply kept sending the same old model back to the spacecraft, even when the older ones broke down. only currently that the astronauts all have newer laptops is that the space agency forced to send up the brand-spanking new H.P. Envy. But, when you have spent tens of billions to assist build a habitable satellite, you’ve to cut prices elsewhere.
HP’s printers are set to blast off to the ISS on the SpaceX CRS-14 resupply rocket in Feb.
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source:engadget.com
