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CubeSats + 3D printing... for space. I'm surprised this isn't an ACT project :) more info: SpiderFab: Process for On-Orbit Construction of Kilometer-Scale Apertures

$100,000 from NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program to hammer out a design and figure out whether spacecraft self-construction makes business sense .... I can answer for 0$ ..... NO Infact the question is just stupid: a) spacecraft self-construction exist: then it is a no brainer to decide wether it makes business sense b) it does not: then there is no business

From the article: By the end of September 2014, Jason Budinoff, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD), is expected to complete the first imaging telescopes ever assembled almost exclusively from 3D-manufactured components. The devices' optics and electronics will be fabricated using conventional methods. "As far as I know, we are the first to attempt to build an entire instrument with 3D printing," says Budinoff. He is building a fully functional 50 mm camera whose outer tube, baffles, and optical mounts are all printed as a single structure. The instrument is appropriately sized for a CubeSat (a small satellite made of individual units each about 100 mm on a side). 

The European Space Agency has unveiled plans to "take 3D printing into the metal age" by building parts for jets, spacecraft and fusion projects.

Metal Age sounds like some epic good time...

Cool technique to 3D print glass structures of small sizes.

Both graphene and 3d printing has been around for quite a while, but combined they could provide unique properties of materials, eg in the use of high performance 3d batteries. This paper gives a nice overview of what has been done in the field up to now.

A good DIY project - build a tractor beam using 3D printed parts. The 3D files and research are available for download. A new way for microgravity research @fichbio ?

Tea, Earl Grey, hot...

Lets see what part of the replicator will work first: the actual 3D-printing of the tea or the language recognition software...

Oh yes, I forgot about the language recognition... The abominations it might produce... :-[]

Creepy but cool

I remember that ESA was looking into similar things for the Vulcain 2/2+ NE upgrade together with Volvo and other companies. Does anybody know about the status of that program (google does not ;-))?

very nice!!! thanks for sharing ...

And thats the bad news .... obviously from texas

we just had discussion about how it makes easier to have a gun and now US Government is demanding to take blueprints offline http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22478310

"The new type of material consists of tens of thousands of picoliter connected water droplets encapsulated within lipid films, which can perform some of the functions of the cells inside our bodies."

New 3D printed macro structure exhibits selective buckling open the way for custom shape-memory materials found our neighbor scientists from the Lorentz Institut of the Leiden University. Wonder if it can be applied for self-assembled deployment of structures.

Forget our technolgy forecast: It seems already possible to 3D-print metallic particles.

"When in the desert he came up with the idea to use the two dominating features in the desert -- the sun and the sand -- in his next project.". I wonder where we should send him next.

Arts project with implications for space science... Awesome! Note how this guy is dressed in the middle of an Egyptian desert, lol...

Nice renders!!!

"In the future, if you need a new smartphone case, you might not have to drive to the store and purchase one that comes wrapped in even more plastic." Actually I was thinking more of printing whatever LEGO blocks you might need for a certain home project

The work is based on the use of a "continuous flow" microreactor to produce nanoparticle inks that make solar cells by printing. In this process, simulated sunlight is focused on the solar microreactor to rapidly heat it, while allowing precise control of temperature to aid the quality of the finished product. The light in these experiments was produced artificially, but the process could be done with direct sunlight, and at a fraction of the cost of current approaches.

anybody interested in having a closer look at this?