NASA’s 3D-Printer Can Make Pizza In Space, But You’ll Get To Try It First

The BeeHex printer can make a pie in four minutes

August 11, 2016 9:00 am

In space, no one can hear you scream … or bring you pizza when you’re hungry.

Back in 2013, NASA engineer Anjan Contractor began developing a solution: a 3D-food printer that could provide astronauts a slice of home on the first manned mission to Mars scheduled for 2025. 

Unfortunately for astronauts everywhere, funding  dried up as soon as the first prototype was completed. Contractor’s 3D-printed pizza project was shelved. The future of deep-space became decidedly less delicious.

That is, until now.

Putting the NASA debacle behind him and teaming up with a trio of  developers last year, Contractor launched a BeeHex, a company dedicated solely that producing machines that can make 3D-printed pizza in just four minutes using customized ingredients.

While BeeHex ovens may still end up in space one day, the company’s initial plans include feeding 3D-printed pizzas to concertgoers and sports fans at arenas and to customers at theme parks.

The company envisions a future where customers will design and order a custom pie using an app, pay for the pizza in advance, and then go to the concession stand to pick it up once it’s done.

According to BeeHex, their robots can produce pizzas in half the time it takes a human, which should save time. “One thing we’re trying to solve is the halftime bottleneck when everyone rushes concessions.” BeeHex chief marketing officer Jordan French told Motherboard.

While you can’t order a 3D pizza until at least 2017, you can order a BeeHex demo right now.

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