Welsh startup to launch zero gravity micro-factory into space
A Welsh space start-up planning to use robotic factories in space to make rare materials will launch into orbit after securing approval from the airspace regulator.
Cardiff-based Space Forge is to launch one of its oven-sized factories from the US later this year.
The company is hoping to use the near zero gravity conditions of low-earth orbit to make crystals for use in semiconductors, new types of drugs and metal alloys.
The company was dealt a major setback two years ago when Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson's launch company, failed to send its payload into space.
A Space Forge satellite was lost when the payload crashed into the ocean, and the company's executives later said the UK had become uncompetitive for launches.
It has now secured a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority for its ForgeStar-1 satellite to enter orbit, which would make it the first UK satellite of its kind.
Joshua Western, the company's chief executive, said that Space Forge had not yet announced a launch partner but that lift-off would happen in the US.
The low gravity and vacuum conditions of space, as well as the sub-zero temperatures, offer the prospect of advanced manufacturing that would not be possible on the earth's surface, despite the expense and difficulty of sending up machinery.
They would allow the company to grow extremely pure crystals that could lead to more advanced microchips.
Mr Western said the launch would be a test run, allowing the company to use onboard sensors and footage from its factory to confirm that the conditions are adequate for in-orbit manufacturing, as well as the heat shield it will use to return to earth.
He said flights involving production-ready factories could be launched as soon as next year.
The US launch is likely to be regarded as a setback for Britain's space industry. Virgin Orbit's 2023 launch attempt from Cornwall was the first from UK soil but no more have been attempted since then.
Plans for a launch from the Shetland Islands received a boost last week when the German and British space industries agreed to collaborate on launching intelligence-gathering satellites as soon as next year.
Flights could take place from the SaxaVord spaceport on Unst, the most northerly inhabited Shetland Islands.
Mr Western said he would embrace being able to launch his factories into space from Britain, in part because he would then not have to ship them around the world.
He said: 'The two things that we're going to need to see UK launch achieve are reliability and price. And if it can meet those things then we will absolutely be a champion of it.'
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