Wouldn't it be great to simply ask your computer for a nice piece of pumpkin pie or a bar of gold?  Someday in the near future that might be possible, But, today NASA is working on the first iteration of replicator tech called EBEF3 (electron beam free form fabrication).

As reported by MSNBC, the method uses an electron beam to melt metals and build objects layer by layer. Such an approach already promises to cut manufacturing costs for the aerospace industry, and could pioneer development of new materials. It has also thrilled astronauts on the International Space Station by dangling the possibility of designing new tools or objects, researchers said.

Space explorers have yet to get their hands on the replicator of "Star Trek" to create anything they might require. But NASA has developed a technology that could enable lunar colonists to carry out on-site manufacturing on the moon, or allow future astronauts to create critical spare parts during the long trip to Mars.

"They get up there, and all they have is time and imagination," said Karen Taminger, the materials research engineer heading the project at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia.

Taminger's project has undergone microgravity tests aboard NASA's "vomit comet" aircraft. Now she hopes to get EBF3 scheduled for launch to the International Space Station, so that space trials can commence.

EBF3 requires a few crucial components: power for its electron beam, a vacuum environment, and a source of metals. While "Star Trek's" replicator could work without a supply of subatomic particles, reality is a different story.

For EBF3, metal wires continually feed into the tip of an electron beam. The beam melts the wires and applies them carefully on top of a rotating plate to build an object up slowly, layer by layer. (source MSNBC)

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