Categories: NASA

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

A sketch of a printable 3-D model of 433 Eros. Credit: NASA

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!

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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.