If these Mars colonists find themselves in need of a new piece of equipment while on the Red Planet, they’ll be out of luck. That makes the prospect of a round-trip mission scary and the idea of long-term colonization downright terrifying.<\/p>
We’ve written about<\/a> the startup Relativity Space before, but now it’s offering a potential solution<\/a> to that supply conundrum: It proposes outfitting Mars colonists with sophisticated 3D printers that could churn out almost anything they could ever need — even an entire rocket.<\/p> Designing a 3D-printable rocket is one of Relativity Space’s first goals. To meet it, the company is using a technology called laser sintering, which forms powdered metal into complex shapes.<\/p> According to Business Insider<\/em>, it’s also vastly simplifying its rocket design —<\/strong> while a conventional rocket has about 100,000 moving parts, Relativity’s has only about 1,000.<\/p> Creating such a rocket is a major technical challenge, but Relativity has top-tier talent helping in the endeavor. Its co-founder and chief technology officer Jordan Noone previously worked at SpaceX and interned at Blue Origin, co-founder Tim Ellis was an engineer at Blue Origin, and advisor Tim Buzza was SpaceX’s fifth employee and an engineer for Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson’s rocket company.<\/p> That said, designing a rocket astronauts could 3D print on Mars is still an enormous challenge. If Relativity’s project can make it off the ground, it’ll be an enormous boon to colonization efforts.<\/p> “I would love to launch our factory to Mars, and then figure out how to scale and sustain that society very quickly,” Ellis told Business Insider<\/em>.<\/p> If successful, Relativity has the opportunity to make our off-world plans seem a little less scary.<\/p> READ MORE:<\/strong> Defectors From SpaceX and Blue Origin Are Developing a Remarkable Technology Called ‘Stargate’ to Help Colonize Other Planets<\/a> [Business Insider<\/em>]<\/p> More on settling Mars: Elon Musk’s Plans to Colonize Mars Overlook Some Major Hurdles<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p> Read the original:<\/p> Future Mars Colonists Could Fly Rockets They 3D Printed Right on the Red Planet<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rocket Launcher If Elon Musk has his way, the first humans will arrive on Mars in 2024 , bringing with them\u00a0everything they\u2019ll need for the mission \u2014 or at least everything they think they\u2019ll need. Continue reading Alum Network<\/h2>
Tech Deck<\/h2>
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