Article by: Andacs Robert Eugen, on 12 November 2022, at 09:07 am PST

Bioprinted body parts could prove vital for future medical treatments, and scientists are working hard to test this.

NASA, Redwire, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center for Biotechnology (4DBio3) are sending a new 3D printer to the International Space Station, Redwire's BioFabrication Facility, to bioprint a human knee meniscus in orbit and study the result on Earth.

Ideally, this will lead to treatments for injuries that American soldiers frequently experience. Redwire hopes to 3D print entire organs in space, though it characterizes that as a "long-term" goal.

The company is also using NASA's Advanced Plant Habitat for a project to identify genes for plants that thrive in space.