For the first time, a part of the human body is 3D printed in space technology

For the first time part of human body He was 3D printed In the space using tissues of human origin bloomberg. a Red Wire Company Announced this Thursday, 7which has printed meniscus — a cartilage found in the knee — using human-derived stem cells and collagen in 3D bioprinter Specialized, which is launched to the space station in late 2022 aboard a Northrop Grumman Corp. cargo capsule.

The company developed a 14-day meniscus in another Redwire installation that launched to the space station last year. The printed meniscus returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule this past Monday morning the 4th. Since it was a demonstration, there are no plans to transplant the meniscus into a real knee.

Redwire, a pioneer in efforts to 3D print human tissue in space, is looking at ways to harness the space environment to create human organs and tissues for transplantation.

For many years, many companies have pioneered 3D printing of human organs and tissues on Earth. But when printing in the presence of gravity, bioengineers often have to add chemicals to their creations to keep tissues fixed or print them on arrays and scaffolds to provide structure.

Redwire says it’s easier for viscous materials like canvas to hold their shape in space, making them less cumbersome to build without chemicals or scaffolding. The company’s plan now is to figure out how to make organs, such as meniscus, more affordable and on a larger scale. Cartilage was chosen because tearing of this tissue is one of the leading causes of bone injuries in military personnel.

Also according to Bloomberg, Redwire recently announced a partnership with Sierra Space Corp. To create medicines on a futuristic commercial space station. Redwire will launch more bioprinting payloads to the International Space Station in November on an upcoming SpaceX payload mission with plans to 3D print cardiovascular tissue.