An artist has launched a project to 3D print a human jest in space aboard the International Space Station ( ISS ) .
foretell # Laugh , it asks multitude to pass on their laughs via aniOS app(sorry Android users ) , which are then render as a 3D form . Entries must be submitted by December 31 .
People can then vote on the creations , and the bring home the bacon piece will be harbinger in mid - January . And what do you win ? Well , on the ISS there ’s a 3D pressman operated by the company Made In Space . Eyal Gever , the Israeli artist behind # Laugh , was asked by them to come up with an estimation to make a opus of artistic production on plank the station .
With approval from NASA , an astronaut will then superintend the printing of the winning excogitation in mid - February , if all goes to plan . The result object , look like a sorting of balance undulation in 3D , will be 10 by 14 by 10 centimeters ( 4 by 5.5 by 4 inches ) in size of it . It ’s unsung which cosmonaut will perform the labor yet .
The physical object will not be give up into outer space . Instead , a spokesperson for the company move the worldly concern - based side of things , Platoon , tell IFLScience the goal was to have an astronaut take it outside during a spacewalk , although whether this will happen is n’t clear .
At the very least , the programme is for the astronaut to defy the piece of artwork up to a windowpane on the ISS for a glamour shot with Earth in the background . After that , well , it ’ll just last out on the ISS , hopefully not in the style of the astronauts .
The project will use the Made In Space 3D printer on the ISS , pictured . NASA
What ’s the point in all this ? Well , it ’s for the most part just a bit of play . This will be the first patch of art to be created in space , and Gever hopes it might inspire the future of space travel .
“ The other cave paintings were of human hands which were a way of proclaiming and celebrating the presence of humanity , ” he say in astatement . “ # Laugh will be the 21st hundred edition of that – a mathematically - exact encapsulation of human laugh , simply be adrift through space , expect to be strike . ”
dead on target , there are probably more important things to be doing on the station . But on weekends , the astronauts get a bit of downtime to do public relation activities like this . Earlier this class , for example , British astronaut Tim Peakeread a kid ’s bookon a live stream from the post .
Platoon hopes their event will also be live streamed , with the printing expect to take a couple of hr . It ’s kind of pointless , sure , but kind of merriment too . We ’re run to hold judgment for now .
