 The first 3D printed items from space were unboxed this week and a group of students are aiming to fly the first rocket with a fully 3D printed engine. This is your space pod for April 15, 2015. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is the process by which an object is created by depositing material, which can be plastic or metal alloys, layer by layer until the entire 3D structure is created. The International Space Station currently has a 3D printer on orbit and is being used to test the quality of items printed in space. The 3D printer is a collaboration between NASA and the company made in space. So far, over 20 items have been printed in space, including the very first tool to be printed in space, which was a wrench. These items have been returned to Earth aboard the Dragon capsule as part of SpaceX's fifth commercial resupply mission. If 3D printed items from space have comparable quality to 3D printed items on Earth, then they may reduce our reliance on resupply missions to both the International Space Station and future space stations and space colonies. Imagine if you're performing crucial maintenance when a tool breaks. Usually, you'd have to wait for the item to be built on Earth and then are assigned to a resupply mission and then actually flown up to you. But with 3D printing, you could just print it yourself. However, 3D printing can do more than just build spare parts. 3D printing allows manufacturing time to be shortened and reduces production costs, especially of complex designs and especially in the case of rocket engines. Instead of having to manufacture multiple complex pieces and then join them together, such as in the case of fuel injectors, 3D printing allows the entire piece to be built layer upon layer in as little as one or two parts. This can result in less variation between rocket engines and thus increased performance. The Super Draco engines for SpaceX's Dragon V2 capsule will be fully 3D printed and they will be used for both the launch escape system and the propulsive landing systems. As yet, these rockets have not flown in space but have undergone numerous test firings. They will be used for the Dragon V2 pad abort test. However, the date for this test is not very clear and won't be happening until at least May because of SpaceX's numerous launches in the meantime, including the launch of the 6th ISS resupply mission and the launch of a commercial satellite as well. In the meantime, a group of students from the University of California, San Diego, are aiming to fly the first rocket with a fully 3D printed engine. The students are part of an organization called Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, which uses education and hands-on projects in space-related activities to encourage student interest in space. Right now, the team is working on the Vulcan 1, a fully 3D printed engine which they hope will evolve into the first stage of a three-stage nanosight launcher in the future. The engine will undergo its first flight this June at the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association's Rocket Competition. Originally a team of just 9, over 60 students now contribute to the project, working both evenings and weekends, with some students contributing over 40 hours per week to the project. This is not the first time this group of students have built a rocket engine. Back in 2013, the team successfully built and test fired the Tri-D engine, basically a smaller version of the Vulcan 1. This was an invaluable learning experience for the team. All their hard work and knowledge gained through this Tri-D engine project was put into refining their design for the Vulcan 1 engine. The Vulcan 1 is 50% bigger and delivers 500 pounds more thrust. The Vulcan 1 has been built and the team are looking for community support to help raise funds for the construction of the remainder of their rocket, transportation costs and the testing of two new injector plate designs. They will be launching a Kickstarter campaign next week and aim to raise $15,000. Visit 3D-Rocket.com for more information about this project and for updates on their Kickstarter campaign. I had the opportunity to talk with some of the students from this project this week and the one thing that struck me most was how passionate and motivated they were about their work and the potential of their work to help bring down the cost of rocket manufacturing, making space more accessible for everyone. Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoyed this video. If you would like to watch more Spacepods, head over to our YouTube channel at youtube.com. And while you're there, why not subscribe? I'd love to give a huge shout out to all the patrons of tomorrow that helped contribute to crowdfunding this Spacepod. Thank you so much for your contribution. If you would like more information about how you can become a patron of these Spacepods, head over to Patreon.com slash Spacepod. And remember, you can set a monthly limit to your contributions so you don't bust your budget. My name is Lisa Sozynowski and I'd like to wish the team of the Vulcan one the very best of luck in their endeavor to show the world just how much a group of students can achieve.