TechShot

Recognized under Tier 9 — Extraterrestrial Healthcare, TechShot (based in Greenville, Indiana) was the developer, with printer-maker nScrypt, of the 3D BioFabrication Facility (BFF), the first automated bioprinter designed for spaceflight, which launched to the ISS aboard SpaceX CRS-18 in 2019. Operating in microgravity, the BFF printed thick, soft biomaterials — including a structure using a large volume of human heart cells intended to model cardiac, nerve, and vascular tissue — that would collapse under their own weight if printed on Earth. Techshot was acquired by Redwire Space in November 2021 for $40.7 million, and the BFF program has continued under Redwire's BioFabrication division since. Techshot's early proof that microgravity enables printing of thick, self-supporting tissue structures set the technical foundation for the in-space organ-manufacturing work now seen as a path toward treating crews on long Mars transits, far from a terrestrial transplant list.