3D-printed aircraft successfully takes flight
Oct. 23, 2012 By: Mark Raby
Who needs hundreds of millions of dollars in manufacturing facilities when you can create an airplane with a 3D printer? Researchers have managed to create a flying vehicle that can rise to the sky on its own using 3D printing technology.
Alright, this wasn’t exactly a Boeing 747. In fact the craft was a small contraption with a 6.5-foot wingspan created by students at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. It survived four tests flights in August and September, at a local airfield in central Virginia, and managed to reach a top cruising speed of 45 miles per hour.
One student was chosen to work at the Mitre Corporation based on a YouTube video he posted of a 3D-printed turbofan engine. Mechanical engineering major Steven Easter was successfully able to then turn that experience into a fully working aircraft.
So it’s cool, but what does this mean? Anything? This is actually the third time that a flying device has been created from 3D-printed materials so it isn’t nothing remarkably new, but knowing that a team headlined by an undergraduate engineering student can achieve this accomplishment in a summer internship goes to show just how accessible and how powerful the technology has become.
There is no shortage of exciting 3D printing projects in the works, from increasingly affordable consumer 3D printers to ambitious over-the-top ideas like 3D-printed houses. It’s a far cry to say someone might fly in a 3D-printed plane anytime soon, but the fact that the mere concept isn’t just a thing for sci-fi movies is itself pretty incredible.
via University of Virginia
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