Jessica Frick wants Build stoves in space. Her company, California astral materials, designs machines that can grow valuable materials in orbit that can be used in medicine, semiconductors and others. Or, as she put it: “We are building a box that earns money in space.”
Scientists have long suggested that the microgravity environment of Earth’s orbits may enable the production of higher quality than it is possible to produce on Earth. Astronauts experimented with crystals– a key element of electronic circuits – at the beginning of 1973 at the Skylab NASA space station. But the progress was tardy. For decades, production in space was rather experimental than commercial.
It is all ready to change. Many recent companies, such as Astral, operate lower costs of launching into space, combined with emerging ways to return things to Earth, enrich production in space. In this area it becomes “very”. He adds that until 2035, “waiting is that the global space economy will be a industry of many value of many value, from which production in space is probably around $ 100 billion in the region.”
The simplest production in space refers to everything made in space, which can be then used on the ground or in the space itself. Lack of gravity allows for unique production processes that cannot be repeated on Earth, thanks to compelling physics almost valid.
One of such processes is the growth of crystals – in particular the production of seed crystals that play an crucial role in Production of semiconductors. On earth, engineers take high, miniature, miniature silver seeds and immerse it into melted silicon to create a larger crystal of high quality silicon, which can be cut into tiles and used in electronics. But the impact of gravity on the growth process can introduce pollution. “Silicon now has an insoluble problem,” says Joshua Western, the CEO of British company Space Forge. “Basically, we can’t get it cleaner.”
The cultivation of these seed crystals in space can lead to a much more pure waffle, says Western: “You can almost press the reset button of what we think is a semiconductor limit.”
The FRICKA ASTRAL company plans to do this with a mini-relief that reaches a temperature of about 1500 degrees Celsius (2700 degrees Fahrenheit). The operate of crystals growth is not confined to semiconductors, but can also lead to pharmaceutical breakthroughs and other breakthroughs of higher quality sciences.
Other products produced in space can be produced with similar benefits. In January, China announced that they created A breakthrough new metal stop At the Tiangong space station, which was much lighter and stronger than comparable feet on Earth. A unique environment of low gravity can offer recent possibilities in medical research. “When you cut off gravity, you can create a kind of organ,” says Mike Gold, president of Civil and International Space Business in Redwire, a company with headquarters in Florida, which has been experimented with production at an international space station for years. “If you try to do it on the ground, it will be crushed.”