We are developing a reusable manufacturing satellite that uses the benefits of space to make new materials that are not possible on Earth.
Created: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2022-12-21
Company - Space Forge
Service
- Classification
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Category
- Microgravity Flight Service (LEO)
Microgravity Flight Service (Reusable Satellite)
- Status
- 3) Development
- First launch
- 2022
We make super materials in space that cannot be made on Earth. Our vision is to harness the benefits of outer space to improve life on our planet, by producing new materials that can be used on Earth.
"We’re still aiming for a first launch at the end of 2022 but that really depends on what rockets are available," said Andrew. "But we will be in orbit within 18 months certainly. "Some parts have arrived already and we’re setting up the clean room, which is almost ready for us to start assembling things – we can produce three ForgeStar Ones at a time in there. "By 2025 we want to be doing 12 missions to a year and by the end of the decade they'll probably be weekly. With that said we've probably already met our capacity here so we're in discussions with the Welsh Government about finding a new space for us."
Reuters: World’s first reusable satellite to offer in-space manufacturing.
The company plans to soon launch a small demonstration spacecraft called ForgeStar-0 from the U.K. on an air-launched Virgin Orbit rocket in what would be the first orbital launch from the country. The spacecraft will test the company’s proprietary re-entry shield, which during future operational missions would protect a satellite traveling through the searing heat of the atmosphere, targeting a landing ellipse of just hundreds of meters. While the exact technology is under wraps, Western says each shield has an “umbrella-like” deployment, unfurling upside down ahead of the spacecraft to start. Then, once through the thick atmosphere, the shield doubles as a parachute, slowing the spacecraft for a gentle touchdown. ForgeStar-0 will be purposefully oriented to burn up in the atmosphere, providing useful data points about how the shield copes with re-entry. But a true test will come possibly as early as next year, when the company launches its ForgeStar-1 satellite to demonstrate in-space production of semiconductors, which have a 10-to -100-time performance improvement over semiconductors made on Earth.
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