Particle of space in a 3D case

Stars and planets have always attracted man. Remember, in childhood, with bated breath, you probably looked at the flickering placer in the night sky more than once and were surprised at the names of the constellations. Someone dreamed of becoming an astronaut, to one day be closer to these immensely distant stars, comets, meteorites, and even to the moon! But we grow up and forget about our dreams of space for everyday affairs. And although not everyone is given the opportunity to be in orbit, then now you can keep a piece of this cosmos. We are pleased to announce a new experiment in the framework of Yota FutureProof : on April 12, Cosmonautics Day, we launched a service for 3D-printing of individual covers for our 4G modems. The highlight is that when printing uses particles of a real meteorite.

Never before in the history of mankind have technologies evolved so fast. Every year, in a variety of fields of activity, they come up with a lot of new things and improve the old, something truly amazing is obtained from the synthesis of technologies. In 2015, the Yota FutureProof program was launched , in which we test various promising technologies. With its help, we try to evaluate for ourselves how this or that idea can be useful for us, for business in general and our customers in particular. We at Yota generally like an unusual approach to business, even to the usual little things like acquiring a SIM card. Remember the experiment with the delivery of SIM-cards by drones ? In just a month, our air couriers “wound” 578 km of screws, delivering 964 SIM cards. By calculating costs and profits,we found out for ourselves that in large cities it is quite profitable to deliver small loads in this way.



Printing “meteorite” covers is our next experiment.
It is believed that every day 5-6 tons of meteorites fall on our planet , that is, up to 2000 tons per year! Humanity has long used them as a material for the manufacture of various products. Fire stones falling from heaven were endowed with all kinds of supernatural abilities, figurines were most often carved from stone meteorites, and jewelry was made from metal. Today, meteorites make jewelry and home decoration. You can also find on sale knives made of "space" material.

The meteorite used in our experiment was discovered in 2005, in the vicinity of the village of Seymchan, Magadan Region. Once upon a time a meteorite fell in those parts, when it collapsed into pieces, its very first samples were found back in 1967. Today it is believed that the detected fragments - including those used in our experiment - belong to iron-stone meteorites, pallasites . Unfortunately, it is not known how long this celestial body fell to Earth - we assume thousands of years ago.

3D printing technology over the past couple of years has stepped forward. Today, the most unusual materials are used for it, including metal powders, concrete, clay, chocolate, not to mention a variety of plastics and polymers. You can print musical instruments ,furniture , car parts and whole buildings . Just a couple of weeks ago, the world's first space satellite was delivered to the ISS , the body of which is printed on a 3D printer . In the near future they are going to launch it into outer space.

In our experiment, the covers are printed from a VisiJet PXL Core composite. This is a gypsum-based powder substance that contains calcium sulfate hemihydrate. For printing our covers with meteorite particles, CJP - Color Jet Printing technology is used. The powder is applied step by step, in thin layers that are impregnated with a binder.



So, to join the cosmos as part of our new experiment, you need to go to 3d.yota.ru and simulate the cover design in the online designer. Just cut off the parts from the virtual meteorite model in the browser window, and a special designer transforms the resulting cover into a 3D model. You can also put your name or nickname on the cover. The following is a simple procedure for ordering a 4G modem. The same actions can be performed on the Yota point in the Atrium directly when purchasing a modem.

And finally, a cherry on the cake: during 3D printing, finely dispersed powder with crushed particles of the Magadan meteorite is added to the material.



noteThat covers are provided only when buying a 4G modem, you can’t purchase them separately. As mentioned above, you can order a meteorite cover not only on the website, but also at the point of sale in the Atrium shopping center in Moscow. The experiment will last one month , from April 12 to May 12, 2016, and within the framework of it, unique covers will be delivered so far only within the MKAD. We cannot but note that since the material is limited, only a few hundred free cases will be issued as part of the experiment. Based on the results of the month, we will decide the fate of this project.

Who knows, perhaps our meteorite saw not only the Sun, but also other stars. Put a piece of space in your pocket!