This week, we saw a plastic rocket actually work, looked through the first crystal-clear 3D printed glass, printed out some moon bricks, and took a step closer to mass production of body parts. (Grisly, but a good thing.)

The Rocket’s Red Glare

Normally, 3D printed components wouldn’t be put to this kind of test, but scientists at MIT, ever true to their nerdy roots, decided to try it anyway. And it worked. As Engadget reported, a 3D printed rocket motor was tested and, while it won’t hold up for a round two, that doesn’t really matter, since most rockets are used only once. One-way ticket to space on a 3D printed rocket? I’m game.

Glass Half Full

Scientists and academics out of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have made a breakthrough that might change the way we use lasers and other optical devices. Their new 3D printing method improves on previous processes that couldn’t produce glass at sufficiently high quality to be used optically. I’m imagining a pair of glasses perfectly contoured to my face, avoiding any blurry borders. Lawrence Livermore scientists are imagining applications in a “broad range of areas including chemistry, materials, engineering, physics and optics.” To each their own!

Credit: Jason Laurea/LLNL

To the Moon!

Who knew that the sun and moon would one day get together to build some space bricks? Various space agencies, that’s who! As 3DPrint.com reported, European Space Agency scientists have now printed bricks from pure simulated lunar soil and concentrated sunlight — no binding agents, which even earthbound 3D printers generally rely on. They’re probably over the moon about it, too.

Print Me a Hand

Bloomberg provided a nice rundown of the players in the hotter-than-hot 3D bioprinting space, and also gave us a big dose of hope about one day replacing bones, limbs, and various organs with their magic machines. Now, if we can just get this whole operation onto the Enterprise, we’ll really be boldly going where no one, outside of sci-fi, has gone before. Let’s all live long and prosper, shall we?