ERASMUS: Food Contact Safe Plastics Recycler and 3D Printer System

A key goal of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) from 2012 is to utilize the ISS for developing the systems and protocols necessary to humans to venture beyond low Earth orbit for extended durations, and with the push from Congress in 2015 to build a deep space habitat for a Mars mission by 2018, the goals of HEOMD are increasingly important to meet. The ERASMUS technology integrates a plastics recycler, dry heat sterilizer, and 3D printer to create a system that accepts previously-used plastic waste and parts, sterilizes these pre-used materials, recycles them into food-grade and medical-grade 3D printer filament, and 3D prints new utensils and implements. This effort intends to minimize the requirements for initial supply as well as providing a method to make new parts on-demand as-needed. The ERASMUS Phase II effort focuses on the research and development of the ERASMUS process, sterilizing, recycling, and printing, as well as on a design and print effort, developing medical and food-contact devices.