It’s not sci-fi: 3-D printing may help colonize space

A NASA research team is working on ways to use lunar dust and the sand on Mars as fuel for 3-D printers that will help build colonies on the moon or other planets, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The only readily available construction material on Mars is sand, and an engineering team is exploring how to use that sand as “ink” for a 3-D printer, the report says. The printer would manufacture bricks that could work for airtight and radiation-proof shelters.

And should humans ever try to colonize…