MOUNTAIN VIEW -- Someday astronauts will find themselves deep in outer space, in need of spare spacecraft parts on an inhospitable place like Mars.

That's why Sarah Hovsepian and the engineers at the NASA Ames' SpaceShop are busy now working on a do-it-yourself fix.

Inside a funky machine shop on the agency's Mountain View campus, scientists are laboring on tiny satellites and small machine parts custom made by 3D printers, laser cutters, and "Shop Bots" -- all to prepare NASA for a more self-reliable and economical way to explore space.

The lab is a tinkerer's paradise, where experienced engineers, students and even summer interns are welcome to make their design dreams come true. And on Friday, NASA

Aerospace engineer Oriol Tintore Gazulla, right, shows Rep. Mike Honda. left, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden a PhoneSat. (NASA)

Hovsepian, a recent MIT graduate, thrives under the scrutiny. "I'd always come up with the craziest ideas," said Hovsepian, who manages the lab's engineers. "My professors were always saying, 'You can't do that,' but I always proved to them that I could."

The SpaceShop specializes in 3D-printing, a technique in which a machine prints layers upon layers of material to create an object based on a designer's digital instructions.

NASA engineers use the printers to make prototypes of their creations and quickly sort out the pitfalls before moving onto the real thing.

But NASA plans to use the 3D-printers for more than just prototypes.

Dunn estimates that 30 percent of the parts on the International Space Station could be made using a 3D-printer. Rather than shipping the parts to the station with a costly launch, "all the astronaut has to do is put the feedstock in and push the button," Dunn said.

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NASA Ames' SpaceShop in Mountain View creating DIY fixes for astronauts of the future