Dec. 20th, 2014
Rigamajig is a large-scale building toy, like a cross between playground equipment and an erector set. It has wooden boards, pulleys, giant nuts and bolts, etc. It's pretty cool.
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Emailing Tools
Dec. 20th, 2014 06:53 pmNASA just emailed a wrench to space.
While everyone else is geeking out over the idea of emailing a wrench, I'm over here thinking, "Damn, that is a great way to save on cargo weight! Instead of expending massive effort to send everything astronauts might need, we can instead send a smaller amount of materials to make stuff they need, and they can make exactly what they need when they need it." That will work for everything that can be made of currently 3D printable materials and isn't needed all the time. Send basic high-need supplies and stuff we can't just fab up yet. Use the 3D printer to make the rest. Even a very small savings in cargo weight adds up very fast.
Space just got a lot more habitable. :D
While everyone else is geeking out over the idea of emailing a wrench, I'm over here thinking, "Damn, that is a great way to save on cargo weight! Instead of expending massive effort to send everything astronauts might need, we can instead send a smaller amount of materials to make stuff they need, and they can make exactly what they need when they need it." That will work for everything that can be made of currently 3D printable materials and isn't needed all the time. Send basic high-need supplies and stuff we can't just fab up yet. Use the 3D printer to make the rest. Even a very small savings in cargo weight adds up very fast.
Space just got a lot more habitable. :D