3D printing, self-replication and space travel

[FifthElement]

We are at the dawn of the new age

3D printing is slowly but surely taking over.

As all other technologies it will become more sophisticated and in some time the idea of self-replicating machines will become reality

Imagine a spaceship/probe which is capable of landing on the destination planet (we'll probably start with our Moon as testing ground ) and use planet/moon resources to build multiple replicas of itself via 3D printing and those replicas soon after would be leaving the planet in question in search for another planet where they can build more of them self, and so on, and so on ...

According to some calculations they would self-replicate through entire Milky Way galaxy in about 1 million years.

Looks to me like a feasible way to explore the galaxy, more so then any other way imagined till now

What do you guys think about it ?

[The Grand Nudger]

I wish 3d printers were useful as something other than rapid form production atm (useful to me, ofc - needs vary). I keep them on my christmas list, but I'm waiting to get more for my dollar than they currently offer.

With "2d printing" giants jumping into the fray of late I doubt that I'll have to wait long. Shit, I could get 50% for a LexMark if I drive 20mins to the factory.

I've been tempted to buy one of the Makerbots (still so expensive) just to make fake legos for my kids....but it would still be cheaper to buy the "real" legos..lol.
(the upside of this line of reasoning is that I've convinced my wife on these grounds....so I either get to buy legos and pretend they're for my kids......or I get to buy a makerbot and pretend it's for my kids -you know...so I can make those legos)

[FifthElement]

Oh, they will be, soon.

NASA is very interested and that's always a good sign

I'm ready to buy one, software wise, just waiting for prices to go down bit more.

Once lots of households have it, new developments are gonna skyrocket.

The "only" problem 3D printing is facing is working with multiple materials at once and the biggest obstacle for self replicating machines will be microchips and circuit boards, one day we will get there

[Anomalocaris]

We are at the dawn of the new age

3D printing is slowly but surely taking over.

As all other technologies it will become more sophisticated and in some time the idea of self-replicating machines will become reality

Imagine a spaceship/probe which is capable of landing on the destination planet (we'll probably start with our Moon as testing ground ) and use planet/moon resources to build multiple replicas of itself via 3D printing and those replicas soon after would be leaving the planet in question in search for another planet where they can build more of them self, and so on, and so on ...

According to some calculations they would self-replicate through entire Milky Way galaxy in about 1 million years.

Looks to me like a feasible way to explore the galaxy, more so then any other way imagined till now

What do you guys think about it ?

3D printing something used material fabricated, refined and enhanced by large industrial plants at the end of a planet spanning raw material extraction and material refinement supply chain. Every stage of this planet spanning raw material extraction and refinement supply chain in turn exists at the end of its own planet wide tooling, transportation and energy supply chain.
Pretty soon you can see how even the most basic 3D printing requires a planet spanning web of infrastructure.

It would be a feat to create a small space lander that could replicate such a material extraction and refinement supply web so as to be able to print up a copy of itself.

Quite likely the time between when the lander (more likely a horde of landers) touch down and when the first locally fabricated successor takes off would be scored or hundred of years. In between the lander horde would have to progressively and laboriously build up an material extraction and refinement industry. Initially the lander horde would have to rely on supplies from home planet, just like a manned colony.

[Jenny A]

Using them for space travel sounds loverly, but so far 3D printers are limited in the materials with which they print. They don't turn raw unprocessed dirt into stuff. I can't imagine that anytime soon.

But printing rather than ordering parts is cool. And as a sculpture production tool, it's grand.

[Anomalocaris]

Oh, they will be, soon.

NASA is very interested and that's always a good sign

I'm ready to buy one, software wise, just waiting for prices to go down bit more.

Once lots of households have it, new developments are gonna skyrocket.

The "only" problem 3D printing is facing is working with multiple materials at once and the biggest obstacle for self replicating machines will be microchips and circuit boards, one day we will get there

The main advantage of 3D printer is versatility on small scale. This is what is needed on for crowded space craft to which every pound of supply cost $10K to ship.

It becomes less of an advantage if you have to bring the entire resource extraction industry with it to supply the raw material with which to print.

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Using them for space travel sounds loverly, but so far 3D printers are limited in the materials with which they print. They don't turn raw unprocessed dirt into stuff. I can't imagine that anytime soon.

But printing rather than ordering parts is cool. And as a sculpture production tool, it's grand.

The problem is even if they can turn dirt into stuff, most stuff, if made of dirt, won't work.

You need a vast material extraction industry to support making space craft, regardless of how spacecraft is made. This is because spacecraft cares what it is made of.

[Exian]

It would be nice to be able to turn recyclables into useful objects. I would seriously consider buying one if I didn't need to also buy materials, just a catch-all hopper for plastic pellets and maybe a grinder. I don't even own a 2d printer anymore for that reason, never mind the few times I actually require a hard copy.

[vorlon13]

We are at the dawn of the new age

3D printing is slowly but surely taking over.

As all other technologies it will become more sophisticated and in some time the idea of self-replicating machines will become reality

Imagine a spaceship/probe which is capable of landing on the destination planet (we'll probably start with our Moon as testing ground ) and use planet/moon resources to build multiple replicas of itself via 3D printing and those replicas soon after would be leaving the planet in question in search for another planet where they can build more of them self, and so on, and so on ...

According to some calculations they would self-replicate through entire Milky Way galaxy in about 1 million years.

Looks to me like a feasible way to explore the galaxy, more so then any other way imagined till now

What do you guys think about it ?

You've come up with a twist to the Fermi paradox there.

Not only are aliens not here, but there are no self replicating machines of their making here either.

This might be an even 'stronger' form of Fermi's paradox, btw. It would be plausible most/all aliens might be put off by the the long timescale (assuming they would view a few million years that way) of galactic colonization, but presumably, they would not have much in the way of those feelings in regards to the machines they make.

That neither the aliens, nor their (possibly) precursor self replicating machines are here, in my opinion, firms up Fermi's little observation quite a bit more.

(and I already viewed it as pretty stern stuff)

[FifthElement]

They don't turn raw unprocessed dirt into stuff. I can't imagine that anytime soon.

True, but we are talking about future here, maybe in few hundred years, when pretty much everything can be printed, including machines/robots for raw materials processing and extraction all the way to batteries, solar panels, mini nuclear reactors, printers, assembling robots and whatnot, all controlled by some kind of artificial intelligence ...

What is interesting here is a theoretical implications of this concept (self-replication) in relation to space exploration and it's advantages over other ideas how to cover vast distances between stars.

Here is the original article which inspired my initial post:

How Self-Replicating Spacecraft Could Take Over the Galaxy

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You've come up with a twist to the Fermi paradox there.

Not really my idea, been around for some time ...

Not really big fan of Fermi paradox, there are many potential reasons why we still did not encounter any of this technology from other civilizations