Thingiverse
OSIRIS-REx Space Probe by ottaross
by Thingiverse
Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago
An intrepid space probe on its seven-year mission to return a sample of the asteroid Bennu. This is the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft. The exciting days are in progress now, so you'd best print out a copy of this model to follow-along as the mission is thrilling space fans across the globe.
This is an original from-scratch design, modelling the spacecraft in such a way to make it 3D-printable. As space probes have many things jutting out at all angles, designing and printing them is difficult. My rule-of-thumb is they should fit in one's hand, so getting feature sizes to work in a small model can be difficult. So there is a certain amount of artistic-license employed. While it is not precisely to scale, it faithfully represents the proportions most prominent instruments across the craft, and looks good on your desk while doing it.
I hope you will agree that the result is a good trade-off between accuracy and feasible-printability. There are basically six pieces and various pegs to hold things together. See below for a few tips on print orientation and assembly. A two-piece stand is also included for an inspiring display.
A bit of cleanup, a bit of hot-glue, snap the pieces together and you should have yourself a nice desktop model.
The peg-based assembly helps deal with variability between 3D printers. Tolerances will only affect the fit of the pegs in holes. If too loose a bit of hot glue works regardless. If a bit tight, you can easily sand the pegs slightly for a better fit.
OPTIONAL: As per a request - the LEFT solar panel and the small sample return capsule (looks like a little antenna) have been separated in case you wish to print them in different colours (see example by @jfcusson )
Intending to someday share in a Shapeways Store in the future for those without the 3D printer (and the patience) who want to just buy and assemble a finely detailled model. Sorry if I'm a bit slow to get that queued up there.
Check Out Some of my Other Space Probes
Cassini probe to Saturn
Sputnik, the first satellite ever
This is an original from-scratch design, modelling the spacecraft in such a way to make it 3D-printable. As space probes have many things jutting out at all angles, designing and printing them is difficult. My rule-of-thumb is they should fit in one's hand, so getting feature sizes to work in a small model can be difficult. So there is a certain amount of artistic-license employed. While it is not precisely to scale, it faithfully represents the proportions most prominent instruments across the craft, and looks good on your desk while doing it.
I hope you will agree that the result is a good trade-off between accuracy and feasible-printability. There are basically six pieces and various pegs to hold things together. See below for a few tips on print orientation and assembly. A two-piece stand is also included for an inspiring display.
A bit of cleanup, a bit of hot-glue, snap the pieces together and you should have yourself a nice desktop model.
The peg-based assembly helps deal with variability between 3D printers. Tolerances will only affect the fit of the pegs in holes. If too loose a bit of hot glue works regardless. If a bit tight, you can easily sand the pegs slightly for a better fit.
OPTIONAL: As per a request - the LEFT solar panel and the small sample return capsule (looks like a little antenna) have been separated in case you wish to print them in different colours (see example by @jfcusson )
Intending to someday share in a Shapeways Store in the future for those without the 3D printer (and the patience) who want to just buy and assemble a finely detailled model. Sorry if I'm a bit slow to get that queued up there.
Check Out Some of my Other Space Probes
Cassini probe to Saturn
Sputnik, the first satellite ever