Not many people realize that, in addition to their scientific data and press versions, NASA also shares a substantial amount of free resources on its website: e-books, children’s materials, podcasts and the like. For those who have a 3D printer, the space agency also provides a vast collection of models ready for 3D printing of its most popular spacecraft, asteroids, craters and much more.
The Internet is full of 3D models for printing, but it is not easy to find realistic replicas of the various NASA spacecraft and the many celestial bodies you have observed. If you want to print your own thumbnail of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Curiosity Rover, Cubesats, Cassini, or a series of other spacecraft and satellites, visit the NASA 3D model library.
Anyone can download the files for these objects, which are offered in STL format. You can easily put the files in cure or any software you prefer to convert them into printable files for your particular printer model. After that, it is just a matter of calibrating your 3D printer, connecting the flash drive with the files and waiting for the objects to print.
Depending on what you download, you can end up printing several pieces for the model, which will have to assemble them. Other models are simpler, although not less detailed, the objects that come in one piece, there are topographic models of things like the crater Gale that can be printed, painted and riding on a wall as decorations, for example.
The files are free to download. The NASA website includes a 3D viewer tool so you can see the models before downloading to make sure it is what you are looking for. The viewfinder includes viewing options, solid and surface angle. There are currently 113 printable models available in the NASA library.
