Scientists 3D print Star Trek’s microscopic spaceship that moves by itself

A team of physicists from a university in the Netherlands 3D printed a microscopic version of the USS Voyager, an Intrepid-class spaceship from Star Trek.

© Rachel Doherty and Samia Ouhajji
Scientists have replicated a microscopic version of the USS Voyager from Star Trek.

The miniature Voyager, measuring 15 micrometers (0.015 millimeters) in length, is part of a project led by researchers at Leiden University to understand how shape affects the movement and interactions of micro swimmers.

Micro swimmers are small particles that can move through liquid on their own by interacting with their environment through chemical reactions. The platinum coating on the microswimmers reacts to a hydrogen peroxide solution that they are placed in and pushes them through the liquid.

“By studying synthetic microswimmers, we would like to understand biological microswimmers,” Samia Ouhajji, one of the study’s authors, told CNN. “This understanding could help in the development of new vehicles for drug delivery; for example, microrobots that swim autonomously and deliver drugs to the desired location in the human body.”

Using a 3D printer, scientists found that they can print any form of microswimmers, including boats and starships. This helps them identify the effect each shape has on the movement of the swimming particles.

While most people wouldn’t understand what the USS Voyager has to do with science, Jonas Hoecht, one of the study’s co-authors, had his own reasons for replicating the ship.

“In the last week of his project, I promised him that we could print any shape he liked,” Ouhajji said. “As a huge Star Trek fan, he chose the USS Voyager. Plus, it was also to show that the kinds of shapes we can print are almost limitless.”

In their design, the physicists also printed shapes such as boats, trimers and propellers, with the shape of each object influencing their swimming behaviors.

In addition to understanding how micro-swimmers can be used to clean up wastewater or deliver drugs to the body, the experiment will help scientists learn more about biological swimmers, such as sperm and bacteria, and how they travel through the body.

© Rachel Doherty and Samia Ouhajji
Star Trek microscopic spaceship.