Additive Fabricators: Build it yourself from raw materials

One of the major challenges of exploration and settlement of the Moon and deep space is the need to take everything you'll need with you. Right now, we don't have refineries, factories or foundries in space to create tools and gadgets - and to create such an in-space industrial infrastructure would require enormous lift capacity from Earth (cost prohibitive).

Explorers and settlers on Earth have not had this challenge (except perhaps with the exception of the South Pole research stations). These intrepid people knew that they would find abundant raw materials where they were going. What they needed to bring were the tools to turn those raw materials into useful goods, including more tools!

So how can we apply the same thinking to the settlement of space?

NASA, universities and many companies are looking at ways to use "in-situ" materials to bootstrap a Lunar or Martian colony.

One of the exciting tools that we may use to settle space will be the next generation of Additive Fabricators. These devices automatically make things from raw materials and digital descriptions of the object to be made. Such devices have been around for more than 10 years and are now used extensively in many areas, including design, prototyping, and creation of custom medical prosthetics.

In a space application of "fabbers", we could expect such devices to create, a variety of useful products, such as

• Construction elements, such as posts, beams, and bricks, individually designed for mating to neighbors.
• Conduits for plumbing, air management, and space radiators.
• Fixtures and fittings, such as brackets, joints, etc.
• Large vehicle elements, such as frame members and wheels, as well as replacement parts for complex vehicle systems, such as engines and brakes.
• Hand tools, such as mallets and wrenches, as well as parts and fittings for power tools, including bases for heavy machinery.
• Structural and functional elements of technology projects, such as solar power collectors, telescopes, transmitters, etc.

Before space fabricators become a widely deployed tool for space settlement, I suspect we'll see personal fabricators develop into mature technology here on Earth.

Collections of integrated fabricator tools, not yet miniturized to fit in your den, are already in world-wide deployment.



And don't forget, a fabricator that builds a fabricator is a self-replicating robot! The first such "robotic building blocks" have already been demonstrated. Windows Media Video 5.42MB, courtesy of Hod Lipson, Cornell University



Resources:

The Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT
Environmental Concerns
The "Fab Lab"
Molecular Nanotechnology
Molecular Manufacturing