A team of materials scientists at Washington State University has been using material found in moon rocks in a 3D printer. They have been given a lump of “lunar regolith simulant” (apparently that’s a material that shares many properties of moon rocks) by NASA to use in their research.
The hope is that one day, whilst strolling across the lunar landscape and finding oneself in need of a spare part or tool, we will be able to simply pick up some moon dust from the surface and use that to 3D print what we need!
Of course it will be some time before we find ourselves on the moon and before the technology will be ready. Until that time, why not take a look at some of the projects you could turn your hands to, from the special “Space” edition of MAKE Magazine (issue 24):
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