An Italian inventor has developed a machine that can build three-dimensional objects from sand and a binding agent. In other words, a pod you can send off-world and set to make something from nothing.
Enrico Dini's d_shape is a 3D printer with the capacity to do more than replicate a mug or even a body part: It can build entire buildings with almost no human intervention beyond the design phase, using little more than sand and d_shape's inorganic bonding material. Having proven the technology, Dini's eyeing a remote building site: the surface of the moon, which has an abundance of both space and raw building material — lunar dust. As such, Dini is currently exploring the options with the European Space Agency.
If you can look past the ridiculous trappings of this Italian TV segment, you can see the d_shape in action:
(Via Mashable)