Made in space
Imagine that you have to manufacture a product in a factory. Depending on your product, you would have to receive the material, you would probably use quite large or really specific machines, build it, test it, and off it goes. Despite having all the machines and the knowledge, part of the process occasionally breaks down or it doesn’t function as we have planned it. Now, imagine manufacturing in space. Crazy right? At a company called Made in space, they are trying to do just that. They are trying to create a system that would manufacture and test the product in space from materials they found up there.
Why would you do that? Isn’t that really hard? Yes, it is, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. At Made in space they also acknowledge that manufacturing in space is a very difficult process, but they have quite a few good reasons to try and pull it off.
Firstly, the volume of the rocket’s capacity limits the size of the parts that can be shipped into space. If you would want to ship larger parts or satellites into space, you would have to create bigger rockets or make a few missions more into space. Secondly, it is more cost-efficiently to ship only the material the manufacturer needs into space. This is how they could lower the weight of the cargo, which means that less fuel will be used and consequently this is less expensive. Better yet, how about just getting the materials from asteroids? This could happen in the future, but that is another story. Thirdly, the forces of a launch can damage the cargo. This is definitely not what scientists and engineers want to happen after all the years of hard work and research. Imagine being an engineer working on a satellite. After years of hard work, you send it into space and it reaches its destination, but only to find out that the satellite doesn’t work, because it was damaged during the flight. Now that must be frustrating, costly, and time-consuming!
Their vision for in-space manufacturing, inspection, and assembly is to create parts used for fixing or creating systems that will allow humankind to go deeper into space. Of course, they didn’t try to create entire space stations in space right of the bat. They took small steps forward, proving to themselves and others that their technology works and could be used in space.
Ok, but what exactly are they building? One area of their expertise is creating and manufacturing new materials. By having access to ISS national lab up in the space, they are able to do experiments to see how zero gravity affects different processes of creating materials or just the materials themselves.
One of those materials is optical fiber. They have stated that optical fibers, created in space are better than the ones created on Earth. Because of the microgravity environment in space, optical fibers aren’t subjected to tiny flaws, which increase signal loss. If we imagine that optical fibers can span a few thousand miles, those tiny imperfections add up. This is why optical fibers created in space could be used on Earth.
The second type of material created in space is hybrid metals. They have created a manufacturing system for creating precision metallic, polymer, and hybrid parts. It is really important that astronauts have the ability to change or fix the broken part of their system with an equally strong one. They need materials that they can trust to hold up extreme conditions in space.
The third type of material created in space is industrial crystals. They have created industrial crystal facilities that are “designed to explore the growth and formulation of inorganic large single crystals and other exotic materials microgravity with size and quality relevant to terrestrial use.” These crystals can be used “ultra-fast optical switches, optical waveguides, optical circuit lithography, high-efficiency ultraviolet light production, and terahertz wave sensors.” This sounds really advanced technology.
Besides manufacturing different materials, Made in space is taking care of space sustainability. They have created a machine called Plastic Recycler, which enables astronauts to reuse their plastic. They simply put the plastic into the drawer of the Plastic Recycler, close it and that is it. After some time, they will get back a material that can be used for creating new products. Spare parts of plastic can be used for another part of the mission, therefore reducing the need of receiving another shipment of materials. This is how they take another step towards their complete sustainability and ability to go further into space.
But I have left the best for last. They have also created the Archinaut project. What is this? “Archinaut technologies unlock our ability to manufacture and assemble large structures on orbit. Think large imaging arrays, kilometer-scale communications tools, and large space stations. Structures built using Archinaut are optimized for the space environment rather than the launch environment, enabling significantly more capable systems produced at lower costs as required for today’s commercial markets and NASA’s future mission needs.”
With the help of an almost 74-million-dollar contract by Nasa, they could launch Archinaut One; a self-repairing satellite, as soon as in 2022. The Archinaut One will be basically a satellite with a robotic arm attached to it. The robotic arm will have to assemble two 32-foot-long solar arrays that could create up to five times more power than other satellites its size. Really incredible.
Also, they are creating Archinaut ULISSES, which is a “free-flying robot capable of manufacturing and assembling structures of indefinite size in space.” So far, the components will be produced on Earth, shipped into space, and joined together by ULISSES.
Last year Made in space has been acquired by Red Wire for an undisclosed price. Based on the article in Space News they have joined forces, because being small and independent may cause some constraints for further research and development. Red Wire is trying to buy different innovative space companies and they slowly combined them under their guidance. Hopefully, they will be able to create even more ground-breaking work.
It is unbelievable how far can a company go, just by having the stamina to pursue its goal. They have created a completely new industry that will enable astronauts to create the parts they need right in space. Maybe one day we will be able to create space stations and vehicles from the material we find in space. How exciting will be that day!
