Made in Space, developer of technologies for manufacturing in space, will test its Archinaut One spacecraft with the help of $73.7 million in NASA funding. The craft will 3D print two 32-foot-long beams in Earth orbit, one on either side of the spacecraft, which will then unfurl solar arrays that can generate five times more power than traditional panels used by similar-sized spacecraft.
As NASA anticipates putting humans on the Moon by 2024, the agency hopes to develop a manufacturing capability on the lunar surface, according to Space.com. “This is how we see in-space manufacturing moving forward,” said Raymond Clinton, NASA associate director of science and technology. “And as the agency has said, we are going to the surface of the moon to demonstrate the technologies we will need when we go to Mars. That is the next step.”
Missions will help astronauts “live off of the land” on the Moon by exploiting lunar resources, including the extraction of water from the regolith.
In-space manufacturing allows the construction of components that are too big to fit atop a rocket as well as fragile structures that could not survive a launch, said Justin Kugler, vice president of advanced programs and concepts. The capability allows designers to optimize for the design and service life of a satellite rather than surviving a launch, passage through the atmosphere and escape from the Earths’ gravity well.
Made in Space also envisions 3D printing that uses focused solar heat to fabricate bricks from moon dust.
The California-based company sees potential for using space-based platforms to manufacture optical fiber, industrial crystals, hybrid metals, and human organs exploiting the unique properties of vacuums and microgravity. Fiber-optic cable made from fluoride glass could have as little as one-tenth the signal loss of silica-based optical fibers. Microgravity suppresses the formation of crystals that form in Earth-based manufacturing processes and weaken signals.Likewise, microgravity allows the even mixing of metals in alloys.