Illustration Photo: Artist's concept of living quarters covered with soil to shield the crew from the sun’s radiation. The extended base has greenhouse and a pressurized work facility where full spacesuits would not be required. This artist conception (being released by NASA) was provided by CASE FOR MARS, an independent organization concerned with a Mars mission.

Illustration Photo: Artist's concept of living quarters covered with soil to shield the crew from the sun’s radiation. The extended base has greenhouse and a pressurized work facility where full spacesuits would not be required. This artist conception (being released by NASA) was provided by CASE FOR MARS, an independent organization concerned with a Mars mission.

Photo: UW engineers have developed the first 3-D printed plastic objects that can connect to other devices via WiFi without using any electronics. The 3-D printed attachment above can sense how much laundry soap is being used — and automatically order more when the bottle is running low. (credits: Mark Stone/UW Photography / Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Photo: UW engineers have developed the first 3-D printed plastic objects that can connect to other devices via WiFi without using any electronics. The 3-D printed attachment above can sense how much laundry soap is being used — and automatically order more when the bottle is running low. (credits: Mark Stone/UW Photography / Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Photo: Mars Science City (credit: Government of Dubai)

Photo: Mars Science City (credit: Government of Dubai)

Photo: The winning works from the 2017 DfAM competition. Shown on the bottom left is the light-weight marine propeller hub. (credit: UNIST)

Photo: The winning works from the 2017 DfAM competition. Shown on the bottom left is the light-weight marine propeller hub. (credit: UNIST)

Photo: A 3D-printed electric vehicle, being test-driven by Gil-Bu Kang, a member of Korea's National Assembly. (credit: UNIST)

The world's first 3D printing basketball boots introduced by PEAK (PRNewsfoto/Peak Sport)

Design and Make your own 3D Printed Quadcopter (Credit: tahitianrider/CC BY-NC-SA 2.5)

Using Stratasys FDM technology, ULA’s Atlas V Rocket is the first vehicle to adopt 3D printing for serial production of thermoplastic components (Photo: Business Wire)