{"id":235427,"date":"2026-04-17T06:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T11:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/additive-manufacturing-in-microgravity"},"modified":"2026-04-17T06:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T11:28:26","slug":"additive-manufacturing-in-microgravity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/additive-manufacturing-in-microgravity","title":{"rendered":"Additive Manufacturing in Microgravity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4FMLGp4DP80?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The most expensive part of space travel isn\u2019t the fuel. It\u2019s the cargo. Additive manufacturing isn\u2019t a sci-fi magic trick; it\u2019s the key to building shipyards and telescopes at scales rockets were never meant to handle. We aren\u2019t just launching ships anymore; we\u2019re moving the factory to the void.<\/p>\n<p>Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: <a href=\"https:\/\/go.nebula.tv\/isaacarthur\">https:\/\/go.nebula.tv\/isaacarthur<\/a>.<br \/> Watch my exclusive video Settling Saturn\u2019s Rings: <a href=\"https:\/\/nebula.tv\/videos\/isaacarthur-\">https:\/\/nebula.tv\/videos\/isaacarthur\u2013<\/a>\u2026 out The Anatomy of the Nokia 3310: <a href=\"https:\/\/nebula.tv\/videos\/realengineer\">https:\/\/nebula.tv\/videos\/realengineer<\/a>\u2026 \ud83d\uded2 SFIA Merchandise: <a href=\"https:\/\/isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall\">https:\/\/isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall<\/a>\u2026 \ud83c\udf10 Visit our Website: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isaacarthur.net\">http:\/\/www.isaacarthur.net<\/a> \u2764\ufe0f Support us on Patreon: <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \/ isaacarthur \u2b50 Support us on Subscribestar: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/isaac-a\">https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/isaac-a<\/a>\u2026 \ud83d\udc65 Facebook Group: <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \/ 1,583,992,725,237,264 \ud83d\udce3 Reddit Community: <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \/ isaacarthur \ud83d\udc26 Follow on Twitter \/ X: <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \/ isaac_a_arthur \ud83d\udcac SFIA Discord Server: <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \/ discord Credits: Additive Manufacturing in Microgravity Written, Produced &amp; Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Select imagery\/video supplied by Getty Images Chapters 0:00 Intro 2:10 Additive Manufacturing Is Not a Printer 8:04 The Physics of Printing in Freefall 12:23 Low Gravity, Regolith, and the \u201cMessy Middle\u201d 17:01 CT Scan 17:59 Printing at Scales Rockets Can\u2019t Touch.<br \/> Check out The Anatomy of the Nokia 3310: <a href=\"https:\/\/nebula.tv\/videos\/realengineer\">https:\/\/nebula.tv\/videos\/realengineer<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\uded2 SFIA Merchandise: <a href=\"https:\/\/isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall\">https:\/\/isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall<\/a>\u2026<br \/> \ud83c\udf10 Visit our Website: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isaacarthur.net\">http:\/\/www.isaacarthur.net<\/a>.<br \/> \u2764\ufe0f Support us on Patreon: \/ isaacarthur.<br \/> \u2b50 Support us on Subscribestar: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/isaac-a\">https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/isaac-a<\/a>\u2026<br \/> \ud83d\udc65 Facebook Group: \/ 1583992725237264<br \/> \ud83d\udce3 Reddit Community: \/ isaacarthur.<br \/> \ud83d\udc26 Follow on Twitter \/ X: \/ isaac_a_arthur.<br \/> \ud83d\udcac SFIA Discord Server: \/ discord.<br \/> Credits:<br \/> Additive Manufacturing in Microgravity.<br \/> Written, Produced &amp; Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.<br \/> Select imagery\/video supplied by Getty Images.<\/p>\n<p>Chapters.<br \/> 0:00 Intro.<br \/> 2:10 Additive Manufacturing Is Not a Printer.<br \/> 8:04 The Physics of Printing in Freefall.<br \/> 12:23 Low Gravity, Regolith, and the \u201cMessy Middle\u201d<br \/> 17:01 CT Scan.<br \/> 17:59 Printing at Scales Rockets Can\u2019t Touch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most expensive part of space travel isn\u2019t the fuel. It\u2019s the cargo. Additive manufacturing isn\u2019t a sci-fi magic trick; it\u2019s the key to building shipyards and telescopes at scales rockets were never meant to handle. We aren\u2019t just launching ships anymore; we\u2019re moving the factory to the void. Get Nebula using my link for [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[219,1514],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-physics","category-space-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}