Food and materials replicators in our lifetime? If the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has its way, and it is looking more and more like its space programs will, those replicators from the USS Enterprise on Star Trek will soon become a reality of everyday life for astronauts and others traveling in space.
With the advent of 3D-printing new technologies are now being created that will allow those printers to actually produce food products in a matter of minutes. As the science further develops those minutes will be replaced by seconds.
The process comes from Systems & Materials Research Consultancy (SMRC), a company located in Austin, Texas and founded by wiz-kid mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor.
NASA sees Contractor’s replicating device as a means to feed future space travelers and planetary colonists.
Just as the microwave oven has become a fixture in every home the SMRC Replicator may become just as commonplace within our lifetimes.
Replicated pizza anyone? Or perhaps “Earl Grey — hot.”
Check out this cool video of the replicator at work:
[…] world of computers to the real world of practical physicality has become so sophisticated that, as Slice of SciFi reported in one article, today can be used to create edible foodstuffs and intricate replacement parts for […]