Categories: NASA

A Whole New World: How NASA Helps You 3-D Print The Universe

How would it feel like to hold an asteroid or spacecraft in your hands? NASA is giving you that chance through a special website that includes 3-D printable models of various things, ranging from the asteroid Eros to the Rosetta spacecraft, which is going to make an epic rendezvous with a comet in just a couple of weeks.

NASA’s 3D resources website now includes nearly two dozen models, including several released in the past few weeks. You can print out Curiosity’s landing site (Gale Crater), or perhaps the Voyager spacecraft that is further away than anything else humanity has sent out into the universe, or any other number of locations or hardware.

So if you learn best by using your hands, here’s your big chance to have some fun. Or to entertain the kids during summer vacation, if you can get access to a community or personal printer!

Sketch of a 3-D model of Valles Marineris on Mars. Credit: NASA

(h/t 3DPrint.com)

Elizabeth Howell

Elizabeth Howell is the senior writer at Universe Today. She also works for Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, among others. Career highlights include watching three shuttle launches, and going on a two-week simulated Mars expedition in rural Utah. You can follow her on Twitter @howellspace or contact her at her website.

Recent Posts

Second Generation Starlinks are 32 Times Brighter in Radio Wavelengths

Global internet access does seem like a worthy enterprise yet the rise of satellite megaconstellations…

4 hours ago

There’s Water All Over the Moon

When you look at the Moon, you don't see any water on its surface. That…

6 hours ago

Io’s Volcanoes are Windows into its Hot Interior

NASA's Juno spacecraft was sent to Jupiter to study the gas giant. But its mission…

8 hours ago

Could Stars Hotter Than the Sun Still Support Life?

Astronomers have several classifications for stars: the Sun is a G-type star. As you go…

12 hours ago

Slime Mold Can Teach Us About the Cosmic Web

Computers truly are wonderful things and powerful but only if they are programmed by a…

1 day ago

Plants Would Still Grow Well Under Alien Skies

Photosynthesis changed Earth in powerful ways. When photosynthetic organisms appeared, it led to the Great…

1 day ago