So long, old and busted; hello new hotness.
17 years is a long time to have a printer, for a multitude of reasons. Not the least of which being pure, unbridled rage of the kind that only a printer can inspire. And yet, the International Space Station has somehow had their printer for just that long. How they managed to avoid vindictively launching it into the sun for all that time is beyond me. They’re all smart, they could probably manage it.
Regardless, HP was kind enough to design a pair of printers capable of meeting the standards of space printing. The Envy ISS, based on the OfficeJet 5740, can handle pretty much all printing duties necessary in zero gravity. Including ink management, as well as being made from a flame retardant plastic thanks to 3D printing.
And the ISS does go through a fair amount of paper. Crew members are constantly printing out mission related info, as well as personal letters and photographs. Crew members have also received new HP ZBook workstations, 120 in total. So they’ll definitely need the printers.
The printers are going up to the station on a Falcon 9 rocket today; mission CRS-14. The rocket is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral today at 4:08 PM ET. You can watch it here.
Source: Engadget
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