Metal additive manufacturing (MAM) offers transformative potential for producing complex, high-performance components directly in space. However, a systematic understanding of which MAM processes are truly viable for in-space deployment, their current maturity levels, and the critical challenges that constrain further advancement remains limited. This review provides a comprehensive assessment of the adaptability of major MAM technologies, including Direct Energy Deposition (DED), Powder Bed Fusion (PBF), Material Extrusion (MEX), Material Jetting (MJT), and Vat Photopolymerization (VPP), to the unique conditions of microgravity and vacuum. By integrating dispersed findings into a unified framework that links process physics with environmental constraints, we offer a comparative analysis of terrestrial versus in-space operation, emphasizing how microgravity and vacuum reshape system architectures, melt-pool behavior, interlayer bonding, defect formation, and overall process capabilities. Key challenges related to equipment miniaturization and space adaptation, process monitoring and control, melt-solidification dynamics, and post-processing and quality assurance are critically examined, together with their implications for process-structure-property relationships under non-terrestrial conditions. Building on these insights, a technology-readiness roadmap is proposed to highlight priority research directions required to transition from isolated laboratory demonstrations toward robust, flight-ready MAM systems. This work establishes an integrated understanding of the state of the art and outlines future pathways for advancing metallic additive manufacturing in extreme space environments.
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