NASA to Build Space Craft Using A 3D Printer?

In recent years, we have seen an explosion in businesses looking to propel people into space. Although NASA’s image has lost some of its luster in the last decade, new upstart companies are pushing the agency to look at new technologies to further our access to the heavens.

One idea that has recently gained funding from NASA’s “Innovative Advanced Concepts” program is the “SpiderFab.”

Robert Hoyt of Tethers Unlimited Inc. describes the “SpiderFab” as a design that creates “…on-orbit construction of very large structures and multifunctional components”. Based on additive manufacturing this new design “…enables the constituent materials for a space structure to be launched in an extremely compact form, approaching perfect packing efficiencies, and processed on-orbit to form structures optimized for the micro-gee space environment…”

Basically, the “SpiderFab” is a 3D printer sent to space to create large space structures, and that’s really incredible.

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