Additive Manufacture for Space: Past, Present, and Future

Additive manufacture has proven to be an enabling technology to decrease the cost of rocket engine manufacture, increase design flexibility, and utilize hard-to-process materials not previously available. The long-term vision of robotic and human sustained permanent presence in various locations throughout the solar system requires the use of local resources that can then be made into feedstocks, which are potentially well suited for additive manufacture to produce a range of items from replacement parts to habitats.