[allannienhuis]

right, but the rate of dissipation would be a huge problem for the additive technique described in this article. Plus the lack of gravity means that the molten metal would adhere to the existing component very very differently. Essentially it would mean designing the process from scratch - with almost no ability to test on earth during the design process. Not sure how effective computer modelling is for that type of thing :)

[rtkwe]

You can do small scale tests of each bit though: testing the sintered powder jet on a parabolic flight, test the heat dissipation in a vacuum chamber, etc. It wouldn't be easy but it's far from impossible.