Nanotechnology and 3D printing

I think that space tourism isn't the real market for cheap space transportation. The real market is 3d printing. As of now, 3d printers and machines which cut away material to make a 3d shape can't make complex shapes, for example, a sphere with spikes in the middle. But in a near gravity-less environment, you could put down a pixel of material, then move in a spherical motion, putting down more material where it is needed. Since the material stays put, you could make complex shapes.

But are they going to be willing to pay the tens of thousands of dollars (if not more) each print will cost?

You'd have the 'print shop' on an unmanned space station in some suitable not-too-high orbit. Then, you send the print job up to it, it prints the damn thing, and on the next visit by a 'space shuttle' type vehicle to refull consumables and such (including printer fluid), printed items are brought back down and delivered to the customer. That's how I could see it function.

As for the feasability, it's merely a question of finding something that needs these incredibly complex shapes. Something will come up, and the moment it does, this is feasible.

There was a longer article about this in the edition of Wirtschaftswoche of 7th of July this year.

The article says that Laser-Sintering-equipment not larger tan an XXL-refrigerator or 3D-printers will be capable to produce ven parts for airplanes or reels soon.

This enables individualised production.

Christof Stotko, Global Marketing Manager at EOS (Krailling at Munich/Germany), is quoted to have said that soon small-scale series production will be done this way. At shoes this seems to drop the production costs by a factor of 30 at certain parts.

The capabilities are enhancing very rapidly according to the article. Scientists of the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena/Germany and the Fraunhofer-Institute in Bremen/Germany are experimenting the production of high-sensitive solar cells, mini-batteries, sensors and antennas by printers - in one workflow and at a precision of 0.01 millimeters!

What about this using as germ of industries on other planets, ISRU and aboard space vehicles etc.?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

i think there's no question that a permanent moon or mars base will have (and have to have) rapid prototyping equipment to print out, for ex, spare parts to repair stuff.

Latest 3D printing devices make use of metal powder and a 3D laser to metal substances which make the technology more attractive. These devices have already been used by Israel and the U. S.