Space Forge says its ForgeStar spacecraft could manufacturer up to 100 chips per flight.
COLORADO SPRINGS—Space Forge of the UK, a startup developing a spacecraft for manufacturing goods in space and safely delivering them to Earth, plans to launch U.S. manufacturing operations.
The company is trying to capitalize on interest in manufacturing “super materials” in space, particularly for use in semiconductors, says CEO Joshua Western, speaking at the Space Symposium on April 19. Manufacturing in microgravity and the vacuum environments of low-Earth-orbit space offer a way to make materials such as silicon carbide or gallium nitride with fewer defects for use in semiconductors, he says.
Space-based manufacturing ought to allow Space Forge to make “entirely new chipsets for things that simply we can’t produce here because of the way the Earth prevents us from mixing and matching certain materials,” says Western.
The company has not decided on a location within the U.S., but is looking at several states. Space Forge wants to position the manufacturing facility between a landing site and semiconductor customers.
Space Forge also aims to work with suppliers that are International Traffic in Arms Regulations-restricted, by locating manufacturing operations in the U.S., says Western. The company believes it may qualify for U.S. government subsidies established as part of the CHIPS Act as well.
“One of the reasons we’ve come here is that some of the partners that we’re beginning to work with approached us about joining their respective CHIPS teams,” says Western, adding the company wants “to establish more partnerships and deeper collaborations under the frame of Five Eyes and AUKUS as well.”
Space Forge plans to launch its first spacecraft, dubbed ForgeStar-1A, in September or October for an initial demonstration. An earlier example of the ForgeStar was destroyed during the failed launch of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne in January.
The ForgeStar spacecraft is designed to land softly at a precise point on the Earth using an umbrella-like structure to slow its descent. It can stay in low-Earth orbit for up to six months and is designed to accommodate production of semiconductors, alloys and biological materials.
The first generation of ForgeStar spacecraft should be able to manufacture up to 100 chips per flight, Western says. A follow-on ForgeStar-2, which the company is aiming to launch in 2025, should be able to manufacture 100,000 chips per flight.
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