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'Curiosity' Lead Engineer Suggests Printing Humans On Other Planets

Posted by timothy on from the ok-use-the-wormhole-to-get-the-printer dept.

Jason Koebler (3528235) writes "Adam Steltzner, the lead engineer on the NASA JPL's Curiosity rover mission, believes that to send humans to distant planets, we may need to do one of two things: look for ways to game space-time—traveling through wormholes and whatnot—or rethink the fundamental idea of 'ourselves.' 'Our best bet for space exploration could be printing humans, organically, on another planet,' said Steltzner."

2 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. The end by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can just see it. A billion years from now, on a planet a trillion miles away, the last remaining message from the human race will be displayed in black pixelated letters on a small rectangular display: PC LOAD LETTER.

  2. Re:Out of his discipline by sgtsquid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The whole "glass dome over a crater" thing is as much sci-fi as warp drive at this point. The material technology just doesn't exist and might not for a long time. It might be more appropriate for "Habitat 3.0", but it will require an established industrial infrastructure. The most likely scenario for "Habitat 1.0" is a smaller concrete dome. Look up "magnesium oxychloride cement". It can be made from magnesium chloride and water, and it will cure in the Martian atmosphere. Yes, I have tried it in a vacuum chamber and it can work.