Printable Spacecraft May Flutter Down on Alien Worlds CREDIT:
Kendra Short Think small…and think today. Micro-electronic
devices are pervasive throughout society. Cellphones, iPhones
and iPads…we’re awash in portable, but powerful hardware. The
onslaught of ultra-tiny technology is giving rise to the idea of
“printable spacecraft” consisting of electronic circuits, power
generation, sensing, fluid handling, propulsion,
telecommunications and mobility subsystems — all integrated onto
a single substrate. The project, if successful, could allow
scientists to one day pepper other worlds with scads of
spacecraft the size of postage stamps or confetti. Research on
the notion of printable spacecraft is being scoped out under the
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program — one of many novel
space initiatives detailed late last month at a NIAC symposium
in Pasadena, Calif. The innovative advanced concepts program is
under the wing of NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist and is
geared to foster technology and innova