DOWN THE STREET, AND ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM

摘要

The future of manufacturing will be local—in a lab, in the middle of the ocean, or on a spaceship to Mars by way of 3D printing. Imagine needing to replace a broken part on a spaceship and being able to use its readily available design schematic to print the replacement part on the fly. Or, when a patient needs a new heart—a customized artificial heart could be built in a local lab with fast delivery to a surgeon located down the street. Body parts and prosthetics aren't the only advances that would benefit from 3D printing: Engineers are print-ing coral reefs to help save our oceans, and the idea of printing food is also being explored. The materials used in 3D printing will continue to evolve as innovative use cases are identified, turning today's ideas for manufactur-ing goods and parts into a reality for the future.