Here at wise labs have always stated since the early eighties everything on the moon except the will power to put systems in place, as skylon engine has gained approval it put a lot of minds at ease. Professor Bandyopadhyay, whose team are the first to demonstrate the ability to fabricate parts using the moon-like material. By using additive manufacturing, the material could also be tailored, the researchers suggested. If explorers needed a stronger building material, for instance, they could perhaps use some moon rock. Moon base: Lunar explorers could use 3D printers to print out practically any object they need from the dust which covers the Moon's surface after a team showed how it could be possible. Professor Bandyopadhyay and a group of colleagues recently published a paper in Rapid Prototyping Journal demonstrating how to print parts using materials from the moon. He and his wife Susmita Bose, also a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, are well known researchers in the area of three-dimensional printing. Most of their work has involved creating bone-like "materials for orthopaedic implants", but two years ago researchers from Nasa asked them if their team might be able to print 3D objects from moon rock.
Inhabitants of a future Moon base could use 3D printers to make tools and replacement parts directly from melted down moon rock, a new study says. Researchers have demonstrated how lunar regrowth could be used as a raw material for 3D printers, allowing explorers to print out nearly any solid object they need right there on the Moon. 'It sounds like science fiction, but now it's really possible,' says Amit Bandyopadhyay, professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. Heavy duty: Most 3D printers use plastic, but researchers showed how Moon rock could also be melted down and printed into useful objects Because of the tremendous expense of space travel, Nasa strives to limit what space ships have to carry. That means any future outpost on the Moon or on Mars would need to be able to use local materials for construction or repairs. That's where the 3D fabrication technology might come in. Three-dimensional fabrication technology, also known as additive manufacturing, allows researchers to produce complex objects directly from computer-aided design (CAD) models, printing the material layer by layer. Material is heated to high temperatures using a laser and printed out like dripping candle wax into the desired shape.
To see whether the same process could work on the Moon, Nasa researchers provided Professor Bandyopadhyay and Professor Bose with 10lb of raw lunar regions lit simulations - imitation Moon rock that is used for research purposes.The WSU researchers were concerned about how the moon rock material, which is made of silicon, aluminum, calcium, iron and magnesium oxides, would melt, but they found it behaved similarly to silica.Using it, they built a few simple shapes and sent their finished products back to Nasa. 'It doesn't look fantastic, but you can make something out of it,' with earth-based additives The advantage of additive manufacturing is that you can control the composition as well as the geometry. said Professor Bose. In the future, the researchers hope to show that the lunar material could be used to do remote repairs. It is an exciting science fiction story, but maybe we'll hear about it in the next few years,' said Professor Bandyopadhyay. 'As long as you can have additive manufacturing set up, you may be able to scoop up and print whatever you want. It's not that far-fetched.'
Here at wise labs have always stated since the early eighties everything on the moon except the will power to put systems in place, as skylon engine has gained approval it put a lot of minds at ease. Professor Bandyopadhyay, whose team are the first to demonstrate the ability to fabricate parts using the moon-like material. By using additive manufacturing, the material could also be tailored, the researchers suggested. If explorers needed a stronger building material, for instance, they could perhaps use some moon rock. Moon base: Lunar explorers could use 3D printers to print out practically any object they need from the dust which covers the Moon's surface after a team showed how it could be possible. Professor Bandyopadhyay and a group of colleagues recently published a paper in Rapid Prototyping Journal demonstrating how to print parts using materials from the moon. He and his wife Susmita Bose, also a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, are well known researchers in the area of three-dimensional printing. Most of their work has involved creating bone-like "materials for orthopaedic implants", but two years ago researchers from Nasa asked them if their team might be able to print 3D objects from moon rock.
Inhabitants of a future Moon base could use 3D printers to make tools and replacement parts directly from melted down moon rock, a new study says. Researchers have demonstrated how lunar regrowth could be used as a raw material for 3D printers, allowing explorers to print out nearly any solid object they need right there on the Moon. 'It sounds like science fiction, but now it's really possible,' says Amit Bandyopadhyay, professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. Heavy duty: Most 3D printers use plastic, but researchers showed how Moon rock could also be melted down and printed into useful objects Because of the tremendous expense of space travel, Nasa strives to limit what space ships have to carry. That means any future outpost on the Moon or on Mars would need to be able to use local materials for construction or repairs. That's where the 3D fabrication technology might come in. Three-dimensional fabrication technology, also known as additive manufacturing, allows researchers to produce complex objects directly from computer-aided design (CAD) models, printing the material layer by layer. Material is heated to high temperatures using a laser and printed out like dripping candle wax into the desired shape.
To see whether the same process could work on the Moon, Nasa researchers provided Professor Bandyopadhyay and Professor Bose with 10lb of raw lunar regions lit simulations - imitation Moon rock that is used for research purposes.The WSU researchers were concerned about how the moon rock material, which is made of silicon, aluminum, calcium, iron and magnesium oxides, would melt, but they found it behaved similarly to silica.Using it, they built a few simple shapes and sent their finished products back to Nasa. 'It doesn't look fantastic, but you can make something out of it,' with earth-based additives The advantage of additive manufacturing is that you can control the composition as well as the geometry. said Professor Bose. In the future, the researchers hope to show that the lunar material could be used to do remote repairs. It is an exciting science fiction story, but maybe we'll hear about it in the next few years,' said Professor Bandyopadhyay. 'As long as you can have additive manufacturing set up, you may be able to scoop up and print whatever you want. It's not that far-fetched.'
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