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Alumni bring advanced 3D printing to space

Â鶹´«Ã½ alumna and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins in front of the Turbine Ceramic Manufacturing Module on the ISS. Three fellow Triton alumni were on the team that developed the device.

San Diego, Calif., Nov. 16, 2020-- Â鶹´«Ã½ alumni have a long history with space—, engineers designing rockets and spacecraft, and medical researchers working to better understand human health on Earth by comparing it with the microgravity environment in space.

This was evident this fall, when Â鶹´«Ã½ alumna and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins (’99 biological sciences) installed a Turbine Ceramic Manufacturing Module made by , on the International Space Station. Three fellow Triton alumni were part of the Made in Space team that designed, built, and tested the ceramic 3D printing device.

Mechanical and aerospace engineering alumni Matt Napoli (also a member of the MAE Industry Advisory Board), Eugenio Guidi and Noah Paul-Gin now work for Made in Space, and developed the ceramic turbine manufacturing device that will allow astronauts on the ISS to 3D print detailed parts requiring high accuracy in space.

While students at the Jacobs School, Napoli was active in the , and Paul-Gin was involved with as well as the Innovative Design and Engineering Application Club. Guidi was on the track team for a year, and has fond memories of the junkyard derby, and heading to the desert to launch supersonic rockets for his aerospace engineering senior project.

Media Contacts

Katherine Connor
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-534-8374
khconnor@ucsd.edu