Posted on

Redwire manufactures the first 3D printed ceramic in space

Image of Ceramics Manufacturing Module (CMM), a commercial manufacturing facility that produces ceramic parts in microgravity for terrestrial use. Credits: Redwire/Made in Space

Made in Space, a recent acquisition of Redwire, has just for the first time successfully manufactured a ceramic part in their Ceramics Manufacturing Module on the ISS using additive manufacturing. The demonstration could stimulate demand in low Earth orbit from terrestrial markets which will be a key driver for space industrialization. Redwire claims that the parts, which included a turbine blisk (bladed disk) and other test pieces, demonstrate that the CMM can produce ceramic parts that exceed the quality of turbine components made on Earth.

According to Redwire’s press release: “CMM aims to demonstrate that ceramic manufacturing in microgravity could enable temperature-resistant, reinforced ceramic parts with better performance, including higher strength and lower residual stress. For high-performance applications such as turbines, nuclear plants, or internal combustion engines, even small strength improvements can yield years-to-decades of superior service life.”

Image of CCM 3D printed part fabricated in LEO. Credits: Redwire
Posted on

The Space Show fund raising drive

Credits: The Space Show

The Space Show – the nation’s first talk radio show focusing on increasing space commerce, advancing space science and economic development, facilitating our move to a space-faring economy which will benefit everyone on Earth – needs your help. The Space Show is hosted by Dr. David Livingston, who completed his doctoral dissertation in 2001 on the commercialization and expansion of space development. Take a moment to visit The Space Show website and read Dr. Livingston’s end of year message. Please give generously to ensure this valuable resource continues to promote, encourage, and support future global economic opportunities, scientific discoveries, and medical advances for all humankind through peaceful and cooperative ventures in outer space.

Posted on

Book Review: Space is Open for Business by Robert Jacobson

Credits: Robert C. Jacobson

Space is Open for Business by Robert Jacobson is a must-read for all potential “astropreneurs” (entrepreneurs involved the NewSpace economy), space advocates, investors or anyone who wants to keep current on space commerce and its impact on the future of humanity. This book is a refreshingly positive view of our future in space, a welcome alternative outlook in stark contrast to many dystopian and negative predictions of where we’re headed in today’s media.

Jacobson covers all aspects of the nascent space economy which has already begun to grow in leaps and bounds, and is headed for explosive growth in the near future. No stone is left unturned by his deep research of all aspects of space commerce, with scores of interviews of executives from both established and small startup space companies.

I especially liked the Sci-Fi and Society chapter in which Jacobson talks about science fiction “illuminating the possibility of the space frontier”. Much of what is now happening in space was predicted in science fiction in the last century. Many CEOs and executives of NewSpace companies were inspired to pursue careers in science or engineering through science fiction books, televisions shows and movies.

Eventually, humanity will evolve to migrate off Earth and establish space settlements throughout the solar system and eventually among the stars. Development of the technologies and commercial activities for space settlement have the potential to create vast wealth, bring billions of people out of poverty and preserve Earth’s natural environment. Jacobson has provided a hopeful glimpse of how the space businesses supporting this effort will manifest this destiny.

Posted on

Nanoracks enters AgTech ecosystem through partnership with Abu Dhabi

Artist’s rendering of greenhouses inside a StarLab Outpost. Credits: Nanoracks / Mack Crawford

Nanoracks, a Houston based space logistics company along with Pure Harvest Smart Farms and FreshToHome, have been selected by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to collaborate on cutting-edge projects to boost the UAE’s agriculture technology (AgTech) infrastructure “across land, sea and space”. Nanoracks is initiating a commercial AgTech space research program in its Abu Dhabi based StarLab Space Farming Center. Starlab will be a commercial space research facility focused on advancing technology for food produced in space and in extreme climates on Earth. The space-based technology will have duel-use applications to not only advance desert agriculture addressing urgent food security challenges, but also be focused on long-term human space exploration and eventual settlement.

Nanoracks plans to leverage it’s “Outposts“, space stations created from salvaged upper stages of spent launch vehicles, to house the company’s greenhouses in low Earth orbit. Next year the company plans to launch a groundbreaking first in-space demonstration mission that will test robotic cutting of a second stage representative tank material. To successfully repurpose upper stages Nanoracks will need to be able to cut metal without producing any orbital debris.

Update 1 September 2021: Nanoracks announces the launch of a new Space AgTech company, StarLab Oasis.

Posted on

UK to fund study of solar power satellites for wireless power generation from space

Solar Power Satellite delivering wireless power to the UK during daylight hours. (NOTE: power would be delivered 24/7). Credits: Frazer-Nash Consultancy

The United Kingdom’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is commissioning a study by the engineering consultancy Frazer-Nash on the feasibility of space-based solar power for delivery of clean, emission free energy to the country’s electrical power grid 24 hours a day. The study, announced on the Frazer-Nash website, will provide an impartial assessment for the government of the engineering viability, budget and economic benefits of space-based solar power for the UK. Frazer-Nash will partner with Oxford Economics, a global forecasting and quantitative analysis company.

Some key challenges expected from the investigation include: a realistic analysis of the scale of the engineering undertaking to build a satellite of such magnitude in space; can the economics justify the effort to be competitive with other sources of power generation; and finally, what are the international regulatory implications of radio frequency spectrum allocation?

Solar Power Satellite delivering wireless power to the UK at night. (NOTE: power would be delivered 24/7). Credits: Frazer-Nash Consultancy


Posted on

Shared vision for human and robotic exploration of the Moon and beyond

Credits: ISECG

The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) is a forum supported by 14 space agencies to implement the Global Exploration Strategy through coordination of their mutual efforts in space exploration. ISECG has just released their August 2020 Supplement to the Global Exploration Roadmap.

From the Executive Summary: “Evolved lunar surface exploration and ultilisation scenarios reflect plans for a near-term series of robotic missions followed by humans returning to the Moon in this decade. Rather than looking at individual missions, the scenario depicts a stepwise development of an increasingly capable lunar transportation system to the lunar surface, traversing systems on the lunar surface, and infrastructure supporting them that will enable cooperative science and human exploration efforts leading toward a sustained presence on the lunar poles and incorporating lunar surface activities as analogues in preparation for human missions to Mars.”

Posted on

The Aerospace Corporation calls for a near term investment decision on Space-based Solar Power

Artist’s concept of a rectenna, a ground site that receives the microwave power transmission from a solar power satellite and converts it into electricity for a utility grid or other users. Credits: James A. Vedda and Karen L. Jones, The Aerospace Corporation

Space enthusiasts have been dreaming of the promise of space-based solar power ever since Peter Glaser first conceived of the idea in the 1960s and Gerald K. O’Neill leveraged the concept to popularize space settlements in his ground breaking book The High Frontier. But the costs have been preventatively high for many years and the technology has been stubbornly out of reach. Recent events and scientific advances have begun to change this situation. For example, launch providers are becoming more widely available and costs are coming down. Photovoltaic cell efficiency has dramatically improved since solar power satellites (SPS) were first conceived. On orbit robotic assembly, additive manufacturing and mass production is within reach. Finally, ISRU on the moon could provide access to materials outside the Earth’s gravity well dramatically reducing the cost of materials needed to build SPSs in space.

In a position paper released last month by The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy, recommendations are made for policy decisions by the U.S. government to make strategic investments in development of this space infrastructure, lest other countries beat us to the punch.

The authors of the paper, James A. Vedda and Karen L. Jones, say that “U.S. decisionmakers will have an opportunity during the next presidential term to establish the role of the United States in this potentially disruptive technology. If SPS can develop into a major component of orbital infrastructure, and someday contribute an additional source of renewable energy to users on Earth, the United States will want to be at the forefront of high-capacity power beaming in all its applications rather than become dependent on others for the technology and services they provide.”

Posted on

NASA’s measurement plan for a lunar water reserve

Diagram depicting NASA’s Lunar Water ISRU Measurement Study (LWIMS). Credits: NASA

NASA just published a Technical Memorandum on its Lunar Water ISRU Measurement Study (LWIMS). The TM describes the establishment of a measurement plan for identification and characterization of a water reserve on the Moon. This program would support the Artemis program to achieve a sustainable lunar presence by 2028.

Three primary data inputs feed information into the system. First, predictive modeling provides a ‘water favorability’ index to map out locations on the Moon with water ice potential. This algorithm is fed data by orbital measurements providing information on a regional scale. It is critical that this orbital data is interpreted properly for water-favorable sites on the Moon. To ensure accuracy, lunar landers will take surface measurements in a series of three phases: mobile reconnaissance for validation of the predictive model, focused exploratory missions to verify water’s presence and final reserve mapping to inform an ISRU ice mining plant by 2028.

Posted on

ESA envisions a space resource utilization program for the coming nascent space economy

Diagram depicting ESA’s program for space resource utilization such as harvesting lunar water and oxygen for rocket propellant and space manufacturing. Credits: Angeliki Kapoglou, ESA

A proposal submitted by ESA’s Angeliki Kapoglou, has been posted on the ESA website that defines a process for evaluating maturing technologies by the European space agency in cooperation with companies in the region. Called ESA Space Resources Utilisation Program, the proposal identifies the potential for a commercial market for water, oxygen and other products sourced from the Moon within the next decade as multiple space agencies plan for humans to return to the lunar surface. The program will position European countries and businesses to be major players in economic activities such as off-Earth propellant production, on-orbit refueling, autonomous in-space manufacturing using resources harvested from space, and robust construction on the lunar surface to support a sustained human presence.

The mission statement of the program is:

“Enable Europe through ESA to be well placed to benefit from the identification, acquisition, and development of space resources with important benefits for society on Earth. SRU will also provide an important reduction on the cost of other space missions…

We propose a series of small and rapid mission activities, to build capability and demonstrate key technologies for the utilisation of space resources. This will ensure that Europe is positioned for the Solar System gold rush that is coming and which will likely kick start with a cislunar economy with benefits for Earth. This constitutes a timely response to a rapidly evolving scenario for space resources.”

The program is expected to cost 100 million € and deliver key findings before the end of 2022.

Posted on

Eta Space snags $27 million Tipping Point award to study space based cryogenic propellant depot technologies

Artist rendering of LOXSAT 1, a demonstrator satellite for a cryogenic oxygen fluid management system. Credits: Eta Space

A small Florida Space Coast start up founded by NASA employees called Eta Space was just awarded a 2020 NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate “Tipping Point” contract to develop the first low Earth orbit cryogenic propellant depot. Management of cryogenic fuels is a key technology for storing propellent in space, which will be a component of a transportation infrastructure supported by in situ resource utilization such as ice mining on the moon for processing into rocket fuel. A key focus of the work by Eta Space will be standardization of equipment interfaces allowing multiple customers to tap into storage capability on orbit.

Eta Space’s LOXSAT 1 mission concept will test a range of cryogenic fuel management processes in space over 9 months specific to liquid oxygen management. LOX is a common oxidizer used across multiple propellant systems by several launch providers and is the heaviest cryogenic fluid needed by most customers.