Massive 3D printer could someday crank out an entire moon base

[Aaron]

got this article from Dvice

This 3D printing tech becomes more amazing every day. First we see hints of the Star Trek replicator becoming reality, and now Italian inventor Enrico Dini's monster printer is so big it could literally fabricate an entire building out
of sand. Good lord.

A computer running CAD software controls thousands of nozzles on the underside of his D-Shape printer. They spew out layer upon layer of sand, each 5 to 10mm thin, bound together with magnesium-based goo that
makes the whole thing hard as a rock.

Dini says his printer could construct a building four times faster than the conventional method. It can print structures that are otherwise impractical, expensive, or impossible to build, too, such as
intricately curved surfaces.

Next up for the D-Shape printer: the moon. The European Space Agency is talking with Dini about creating one of these printers that can use moon dust to fabricate an entire lunar base, if anyone ever makes it
back to that desolate orb. Imagine a huge robotic printer creating an
entire moon village that patiently awaits its inhabitants. Meanwhile,
the printer is getting a lot of practice materializing magnificent
sculptures.

Physorg, via Kurzweil AI

[Alex William]

Great! I wonder where the magnesium goo will come from once it's on the moon.

[Daniel Z]

Absolutely incredible!