The most recent one small step for 3-D tech development happened just last week, when NASA announced a partnership with Mountain View, Calif. company, Made in Space, to start actually making items in space, using 3-D printers. Made in Space bills itself as a company that is laying the foundation for using additive manufacturing technologies - also known as 3-D printing to radically change the way we do space exploration today. It is partnered with both Stratasys and 3-D Systems, and MakerBot besides, to help figure out how 3-D printing will work in a weightless space environment. Now, NASA is collaborating with Made in Space, too, on a project to get this plan off the ground. In the 3-D Printing in Zero G Experiment, Made in Space will provide 3-D printing equipment to NASA to try printing at first computer component boards, then bulkier items such as machine parts, tools, and science equipment, on board the International Space Station - perhaps as soon as next year.
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