Device like ‘Star Trek’ replicator is in the works

[Aero]

This is interesting. Take one of these devices and a Polywell with you to the asteroid belt and you're all set. Build your own habitat.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33626447/ns ... ence-space

[kurt9]

This has been in the works for a long time. There were people in the L-5 Society who were talking about this kind of vacuum deposition for fabricating metal structures. The nice thing about space is that it is a vacuum environment of essentially infinite size. All of the fabrication techniques that have been developed for semiconductor and other thin film applications can be scaled up to make industrial or city-sized structures.

You're still going to need the integrated synthetic biology for the complete biosphere replication to make your habitat livable.

[DeltaV]

Commercial e-beam fabbers are getting about 0.4 millimeter accuracy. Machining is still needed for bearing surfaces, etc. On the plus side, the final product is non-porous, full strength, and there is no bulk warpage, unlike those sintered metal magrid parts that Famulus obtained for his Polywell.

[kunkmiester]

I had the slightly more mundane thought to just do smaller stuff. Silicon feed would allow you to build microchips. The big problem with this tech is the same as the problems with most rapid prototyping machines--it's bloody slow.