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The world’s largest 3D metal printer is churning out rockets

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  1. skybrian
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    From the article: [...]

    From the article:

    NASA has leased us a building at its Stennis Space Center, in Bay St. Louis, Miss., where Relativity will build a factory capable of turning out 24 rockets per year. Such mass production will represent a revolution in rocketry. By embracing additive manufacturing—that is, 3D printing—we believe we can pull it off.

    [...]

    The cost of a rocket is not determined by its raw materials; those are pretty cheap. It’s largely driven by the human labor needed to work those materials into usable components and verify that they will function for flight. There are two ways to reduce these labor costs: You can reduce the total number of parts in a rocket so less labor is needed, or you can change manufacturing processes to reduce the need for human minds and hands.