NASA is currently testing a new breed of 3D printers that can create pieces of equipment in low parabolic flights on Earth – and they hope to one day send the technology to Mars.
3D printers change everything. Need a part? Make it on your 3D printer. No need to order it. Maybe one day auto parts stores will routinely have 3D printers for making that weird part you can’t find online. The manufacturer would simply send the instructions for the 3D printer rather than the part itself.
PS Cory Doctorow confirms what I assumed in an earlier post, that 3D printing can convert semi-auto guns to full-auto.
Even this is a shadow of what is to come. After all, this was the year in which we saw the debut of open source shape files for converting AR-15 rifles to full-automatic.