What this covers
Microgravity can be used to unlock old materials and make new ones in ways that can’t be replicated on Earth. Private companies know this, and are leading the charge toward the next gold rush. But can they turn low Earth orbit into a home for the next industrial revolution?
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-------- In the not-too-distant future, entirely new industries will be developed in space. "Giant Leap" tells the stories of how that can happen. Check out the entire series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqq4LnWs3olWR-zshlDHm6Avj0oURtc1X
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Space industrialization—manufacturing in microgravity using technologies like 3D bioprinting, fiber-optic production, and in-space robotics—will unlock new economic opportunities and materials impossible to create on Earth, but success requires companies to decompose grand visions into incremental, commercially viable steps.
- Microgravity eliminates gravitational forces that constrain material properties and biological structure, enabling products with vastly superior performance (Z-plan fiber with 10-100x better signal loss than silica)
- Companies like Made in Space and Tech Shot are building sustainable business models by proving technologies incrementally with NASA partnerships rather than betting everything on speculative future demand
- The barrier to space manufacturing is not technology but achieving economies of scale—finding the 'killer app' that justifies the high cost-per-kilogram of space operations
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In microgravity, multiple layers of different cell types can be printed and placed adjacent to each other without settling or mixing because there are no gravitational forces to cause them to collapse, enabling three-dimensional tissue structures impossible to create on Earth.
“in microgravity you wouldn't necessarily have to do that you could have your different layers or areas or sections of different types of cells and put them next to each other and there are no other forces they're gonna cause them to mix so you have this opportunity to be able to make these small regions in three dimensions in a different type of way and different type of structure that would be very difficult to do on the ground”
Tech Shot's origins trace to a science project begun in eighth grade investigating how chicken embryos develop in space without gravity, which evolved into partnership with Kentucky Fried Chicken and eventually founded the company with engineer Mark Deucer in a motel room.
“this is my science fair project then I started in eighth grade the whole experiment was to see how the chicken embryo develop in space without the presence of gravity...the project was sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken...the engineer that I worked with Mark deucer he and I are the ones that decided to start tech shot and start it right here in Louisville Kentucky we started in a motel”
Gravity causes chicken egg yolks to settle to the bottom, and hens naturally turn eggs so yolks return to the top, but in space without gravity the same gravitational settling effect would not occur.
“imagine this chicken egg in the back of the barnyard gravity's causing the yolk to fall to the bottom of the egg that a hen has a natural instinct of turning of that egg around so therefore the yolk will fall go back up to the top and gravity pulls it back down to the bottom camp now what would happen to that egg up in space”
While satellites have been getting smaller, those requiring significant power need massive solar arrays, which are difficult to fit into rocket payloads due to the 'tyranny of the fairing,' adding tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to launch costs.
“but if you need a satellite that'll require lots of power you'll most likely need a massive solar array but large arrays are difficult to fit into rocket payloads the so-called tyranny of the fairing and it gets expensive one way around this problem will suspend heavily on engineers to devise solutions for folding arrays into compact configurations then deploy at their full size once in space but all that work and extra weight on a rocket can add tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to a launch cost”
Gravity-based water behavior demonstrates the practical difference between Earth and microgravity manufacturing: water sprayed on Earth shoots out like a water gun and spreads due to gravity, whereas in microgravity water behaves completely differently, enabling printing with a much wider range of materials.
“you think of you know printing if you try to print with water here on earth you know what would happen it would just squirt out like out of a water gun and that is because in a gravity environment you know everything wants to just squirt out and wet out and spread out but in the microgravity environment you don't have to worry about any of that so you have a much wider range of materials that you can print with”
To stay in business, Tech Shot must maintain a portfolio of multiple projects so it does not concentrate risk entirely on a single application like satellite-based bioprinting.
“in order to stay in business tax shot needs to have other projects making sure it doesn't keep all of its eggs in one satellite”
Made in Space is investigating other materials besides Z-blan that can be produced in space, and has developed Arc Konaut, a capability for in-space manufacturing that blends robotic manufacturing with 3D printing.
“while a company is also investigating other materials like Z blonde that can be produced in space they've already laid the groundwork for a whole new way of thinking about in space manufacturing and they call it our Connaught so our Kanaan is is one of many steps towards those broader visions are cannot is a more of a capability than a thing the capability can enable virtually anything you think of in terms of structures in space you can build large things small things that are optimized”
Finding new ways of making things is historically the foundation of economic booms, as evidenced by the historical pattern of value-added economies that take raw materials and transform them into higher-value products.
“our economy has historically been a you know a value-added economy right we take raw material and we turn it into steel and we sell that steel for profit finding new ways of making things is historically the makings of economic boom”
Z-plan optical glass, producible only in microgravity, has a transmission window approximately 5 times wider than traditional silica glass and signal loss 10 to 100 times better than traditional silica glass, making it potentially revolutionary for global data transmission.
“is e bland is an optical glass that has a transmission window that's about five times wider than traditional silicon glass and it has and has a signal loss that's 10 to 100 times better than traditional silica glass”
Optical fiber made from silica is critical for global data transmission, with undersea cables carrying 99% of all data that crosses oceans, making improvements to fiber optics economically significant.
“the best fiber-optic cable is being used to transmit data all over the world in fact undersea cables carry 99% of all the data that crosses oceans”
Since the 1980s, companies have investigated microgravity's unique properties, yielding major breakthroughs in biomedicine and advanced materials research, establishing decades of proven scientific foundation for space manufacturing.
“since the 1980s companies have been investigating the unique properties of microgravity yielding major breakthroughs in the areas of biomedicine and advanced materials research”
Bioprinters on Earth struggle with complex organ systems because printing vascular networks (blood vessel tissue) that distribute nutrients is the primary unsolved challenge—without vascular tissue, printed cells die before they can be used.
“bio printers have been on earth for over a decade and can print things like ear and nose cartilage that a living tissue but for complex systems like organs the difficulty has been printing the vascular networks within the tissue itself without vascular tissue to distribute the needed nutrients any printed cells would die off well before they could be used”
Economies of scale are the most significant factor for the financial success of space-based businesses—the more activity and commercial utilization there is, the more economically feasible space operations become.
“probably the most significant factor for the financial success of a space-based or space related business is economies of scale the more activity there is the more feasible it is”
Private companies including SpaceX (Elon Musk), Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos), and Virgin Galactic (Richard Branson) are making major investments in space, driven by the search for 'why'—the rationale and economic justification for space activity.
“Ellen Moscone and Richard Branson Jeff Bezos and many other industrialists they're making big investments to go up there but there has to be a why there has to be a reason to go to space”
Made in Space's 3D printer aboard the International Space Station has created over 200 objects to date, proving both the technology and the service business model of printing parts for NASA, companies, and schools.
“to date made in space has created over two hundred objects aboard the ISS and with its second printer named the additive manufacturing facility they were able to not only prove their technology but turn it into a business”
Arconaute One is Made in Space's first major project: a free-flying satellite that will manufacture 10-meter booms with solar arrays, designed to reduce the cost of putting satellites into orbit by solving the 'tyranny of the fairing' problem.
“Argonaut one project is a free flying satellite which will manufacture 10-meter booms and those 10-meter booms will have solar arrays on them which allow a small set to manufacture on the order of about a kilowatt of power the Ark naught one mission were launched in 2022 it's part of a public-private partnership with NASA”
Industrialization of space will be one of the great economic booms of this century because space offers a completely new environment to create things that cannot be made on Earth due to gravity's effects on materials and biological systems.
“the industrialization of space I think will be one of the great economic booms of this century space offers a whole new environment to create things things we can't make on earth gravity in general is something that we all just take for granted because it's just always here it affects everything”
Many companies at the component level provide products and services to launch companies, satellite operators, and NASA, applying the 'selling pickaxes' model in the space industry.
“there are many companies at the component level that are providing products and services to launch companies to satellite operators to NASA”
Tech Shot currently works on 15 active projects for NASA, the military, and major pharmaceutical companies, and last year was the company's best year in its history, suggesting growing commercial opportunity in space-based research.
“Tech Shot is currently working on 15 active projects creating technology for NASA the military and major pharmaceutical companies...last year was tech shots best year in his history I think that's reflective of the excitement of the new opportunities they're out there for space”
Made in Space has been working on Z-plan production for over four years, has completed four space missions to test manufacturing techniques, but still expects to be years away from producing a product that can be sold on Earth, let alone achieving commercial scale.
“made in space has been working on C burn for over four years and has flown for missions to test their manufacturing techniques with more planned in the future but they still expect to be a few years away from producing a product that could be sold on earth let alone scaling that to larger industries”
Tech Shot's business model is to function as a 'tech engine' generating new technologies and then spinning off successful ones into separate companies, similar to Levi-Strauss in the 1800s selling pickaxes to miners rather than panning for gold themselves.
“tech shots business model is to be a tech engine we're generating new technologies and then if we feel like that technology has a potential commercial potential we spin that off into a different company or to a different group they liken their business to levi-strauss in the 1800s during the gold rush levi-strauss started out by providing canvas material for tents and wagons”
Currently, over 113,000 people are on the organ donation list and 22 people die every day because organs are unavailable, making microgravity-enabled bioprinting a potential solution to this crisis.
“currently there's over a hundred and thirteen thousand people on the organ donation list and 22 people are dying every day because there's not an organ available”
The hope for Arconauts, like Z-blan and organ printing, is that one of these businesses becomes the spark that catalyzes broader space industrialization.
“the hope for arc naught just like with zebra and organ printing is that one of these businesses can be that spark for space industrialization”
One of the challenges of the 'pickaxe seller' business model in space is that you need a gold rush—it's unclear whether 3D printed organs could generate sufficient demand to create that gold rush of space activity needed to sustain a business.
“one of the challenges in that business model is you need a gold rush it's not clear that 3d printed organs could set off any kind of a gold rush to space so in order to stay in business tax shot needs to have other projects”
It remains unclear whether larger and cheaper solar arrays enabled by Arconauts would be sufficient to achieve the economies of scale needed for sustained space manufacturing viability.
“but it's still unclear whether larger and cheaper solar arrays is the answer to finding scale in production”
Made in Space's strategic approach is to decompose grand visions for space industrialization into digestible, incremental steps along a pathway toward those long-term goals, rather than betting everything on one future product.
“the approach that we've taken it made in space has been to have these really great this really inspiring big vision do we take those big that big vision and we decompose that into digestible chunks like steps alike along that path toward these fantastic futures”
The most successful companies in space are those that consistently ask 'how can I do this on Earth?' rather than betting everything on space manufacturing, as many products are discovered in space but end up being manufactured on Earth at lower cost.
“it's very interesting and a little counterintuitive the most successful companies in space are the companies that consistently say how can I do this on earth there's been many products that started with the vision of actually manufacturing in space and ended up with a discovery phase in space and manufacturing on earth and that's good news for consumers that's good news for the end users of those products because that reduces costs”
Arconaute's robotic assembly combined with 3D printing opens opportunities for customization where different satellite customers can request different power systems, antennas, radiators, or other specialized structures tailored to their specific missions, all manufactured on-demand in space.
“when you combine that robotic assembly and additive manufacturing it really opens the door for customization for clients folks may say hey I actually don't need that much power because of my mission I need but I need a big antenna or I need a large radiator because its general means that I can provide those services quickly and at low cost”
While it is possible to produce Z-blan on Earth, it is nowhere near the potential of what can be produced in microgravity; Earth-produced Z-blan suffers from too many crystals in the material, which reduce signal transmission throughout the fiber length.
“while it is possible to produce see burn on earth it's nowhere near the potential of what you can produce in microgravity earthy fractures even suffers from too many crystals in the end the material and basically what happens is when light or power goes through these don't crystal domains they reduce each time trading a power loss throughout the the length of fiber”
In July 2019, SpaceX's CRS 18 mission launched with over a dozen new research projects including investigations by Goodyear and Adidas studying how their products behave in microgravity, alongside a biomaterial 3D printer capable of printing whole human organs.
“in July of 2019 SpaceX's CRS 18 launched with over a dozen new research projects including investigations being conducted by Goodyear and adidas both companies hope that studying their products in microgravity could unlock new opportunities also aboard the mission is a biomaterial 3d printer and with it the chance to print whole human organs”
Tech Shot CEO John Valencia estimates that printing complex organs like human liver or heart is 5 to 10 years away, though bio printers have been able to print simpler structures like ear and nose cartilage with living tissue for over a decade.
“tech shot is demonstrated in the BFF technology with this current flight and we anticipate being able to print organs and structures might be five to ten years out”
Made in Space estimates that a kilogram of Z-plan could sell for tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, making the high cost-per-kilogram of space launch and operations economically viable for this material.
“they estimate that a kilogram of Z burn could sell for tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and that high price per kilogram is important when it comes to space manufacturing historically the barrier to doing a lot of commercial activity in space has been that it cost so much money to get to space do things and then come back you know it can literally cost like tens of thousands of dollars a kilogram to launch operate and return”
Fiber-optic cable functions because fiber reflects light repeatedly inside its structure, and even when bent, light still travels through to the other end, enabling data transmission.
“this is fiber-optic cable it works because the fiber reflects light over and over inside the structure and even if you bend it the light still comes through the other end”
If during R&D for Z-blan, Made in Space discovers improvements that could be applied to Earth-based manufacturing, the company would be excited about those discoveries and use the profits to reinvest in more space research.
“if in our research and development for Z bland say we've found ways of improving Z bland that we could actually apply to us really like apply in a gravity field we would be excited about that you know for us we take the profits from that pile that back in and do it more cool space stuff”
Z-blan is produced by inserting a preform (dog-bone shaped cylinder) into a furnace, which thins it to less than the width of a human hair, then drawing it into a spool of fiber.
“this is a preform of Z plan it starts out as this nice dog-bone cylinder and then it gets inserted into a furnace this gets thinner and thinner thinner than the width of your own hair and then you start pulling that and so if everything works out you get a spool like this from our earlier test runs basically looks like fishing line”