To accomplish the potential of the New-Space era and facilitate scientific and commercial space exploration, the development of versatile, customized, and affordable space technologies is essential. 3D printing has been established as a disruptive technology, enabling the production of complex and lightweight structures with enhanced performance. However, the harsh conditions of the space environment, including atomic oxygen (AO), extreme temperatures, and ionizing radiation, pose significant challenges to the durability and longevity of additive manufacturing-produced polymers. Until now, there are no additive manufacturing (AM) polymeric materials that are specifically developed and qualified to withstand space hazards.

In this study we describe the development of a unique hybrid formulation, based on cyanate ester and extended bismaleimide (CE/E-BMI), for AM by digital light processing (DLP). A comprehensive characterization of this new material provides a fundamental understanding of its macromolecular structure, properties, and interaction mechanisms with extreme environments. The developed materials demonstrate superior mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties (tensile stress of 80 MPa and heat deflection temperature (HDT) > 300 °C), enhanced durability to AO erosion, ionizing radiation (above 10 years in orbit), and thermal stability (Td5%=360 °C).

The printed materials were exposed to AO in a laser-detonation ground simulation facility and in the real space environment on-board of the International Space Station within the MISSE-17 experiment. It was found that printing orientation governs the AO erosion, thus guiding optimal printing designs for enhanced durability to AO attack.

We expect that the integration of these newly developed space-durable materials with high resolution DLP printing technology will facilitate the production of space-qualified components for future space missions.