Space will be colonized by human race, 3d printing will help but chemical rockets won't get us far. Here are two propulsion methods that you will be able to make and demonstrate here on Earth with some help of your 3d printer. Ideal for educational purposes.
3D Printable DIY Ion Thruster
Ion thrusters are proven space propulsion method and you can learn more about it on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster
With some spare parts and 3d printed structure you can make a working model:
Learn more about the project and get more detailed construction instructions:
http://www.elab-hackerspace.org/2015/09/18/ion-thruster/
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1037204
3D Printable EM drive or RF resonant cavity thruster
EM-drive is much more exotic method of electromagnetic space travel which was considered a hoax when first presented but turned out to be potentially revolutionary since some tests show it works thus enabling future spacecrafts to fly without fuel mass.
Learn more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RF_resonant_cavity_thruster
Now you can also make a model and test it with few metal parts and a 3d printed support.
Project homepage:
https://hackaday.io/project/5596-em-drive
Related Posts:
Free webinars on 3d printing jigs, fixtures and hollow composites layups Another great video from GoEngineer on all kinds of jigs and fixtures used in various manufacturing processes and made with 3d printers. Very educational!Here is the previous tutorial on injection molding:http://diy3dprintin… Read More
3D Printable DIY Ion Thruster and EmDriveSpace will be colonized by human race, 3d printing will help but chemical rockets won't get us far. Here are two propulsion methods that you will be able to make and demonstrate here on Earth with some help of your 3d printer… Read More
Materials for Extreme 3D Printing, Talk by Walter VoitHere is a great talk at Google about more advanced 3d printing materials and their properties. The talk is delivered by Walter Voit. Talk description:Adaptive 3D Technologies makes the toughest - and softest - 3D printed poly… Read More
Prototyping Pi Top DIY laptop with 3d printing Pi Top is DIY laptop kit based on Raspberry Pi and aimed at education and students. The team used 3d printing to prototype the casing. Maybe they could release the files and open source the project for the people who want to … Read More
How to get 3d printers in libraries? If you are a librarian and want to get a 3d printer in your library here is a full and free webinar that will teach you all the basics you need to know. It is presented by Sharona Ginsberg for UM3DLab. Here is entry level vid… Read More