3D Printer
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3D printing , also known as Rapid Prototyping and additive manufacturing, is a technology of creating objects layer-by-layer. It may make it possible for the Mars settlement to fabricate items from in-situ materials. Currently, 3D printers depend on highly processed plastics and metals. 3D printing technology is quickly getting cheaper and faster, as the first 3D printers are getting available for only a few thousand dollars. Advanced 3d printers may be able to print electronics with high precision if the sophisticated raw materials for these electronics (such as copper and silicon) can be made available in highly purified form.
If Martian materials can be used for construction then a single 3D printer can be sent instead of many items, thus saving valuable mass.
NASA has been sponsoring a competition for large scale additive manufacturing to create habitats for a martian base.
Self replicating printers
3D printers usually operate with a single material, but are made from many different materials. So a self replicating 3D printer would need to be a number of printers, each processing one of the required materials. 3D printers also usually produce parts, rather than entire mechanisms, so self replicating 3D printers would also require a robotic assembler. Most 3D printers also produce parts that do not have the required surface finish and precision for final operations. So some kind of surface finishing tool, such as a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, would be required to finish shafts and rolling parts to adequate tolerances. So a Self replicating 3D printer would in fact be more like a small factory, capable or producing each of the different parts of the factory and then assembling them into a second factory. So it might be fairly massive and complex. Such a self replicating machine has been speculated upon for a number of decades and may eventually be produced. See Wikipedia; Self replicating machines for extensive references.
Open issues
- What material can be found and used in 3d printers?
