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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). 

"Media Lab's technique opens new frontier in 3-D printing."

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... :-[]

"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

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 ;-))?

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...

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?

Useful for space exploration, e.g. subsurface water reservoirs such as Europa or Enceladus? Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego used an innovative 3-D printing technology they developed to manufacture multipurpose fish-shaped microrobots -- called microfish -- that swim around efficiently in liquids, are chemically powered by hydrogen peroxide and magnetically controlled.

We report a new record power conversion efficiency of 3.5% for inkjet printed

very nice!!! thanks for sharing ...

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

biological swarm approach to 3-D printing

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

some nice retro-futurology :) according to the reddit thread, this is "from the children's encyclopedia series Our Wonder World, printed around 1918. Published by Geo. L. Shuman & Co."