US EditionUK Firm Launches 1,000°C Furnace in Orbit for Semiconductors
Space Forge's orbital furnace reached 1,000°C to create plasma, enabling semiconductor crystals up to 4,000 times purer than Earth-made materials, advancing microgravity manufacturing.
- The Cardiff-based startup announced on Dec. 31 that ForgeStar-1 generated plasma in low Earth orbit, marking the first commercial satellite to create conditions for semiconductor production in space.
- Because microgravity offers ultra-high vacuum, Space Forge says orbit semiconductors can be up to 4,000 times purer, targeting gallium nitride, silicon carbide, aluminium nitride and diamond.
- ForgeStar-1 launched in June on a SpaceX rideshare and the team has been testing systems from mission control in Cardiff, while images showed glowing plasma at roughly 1,000°C and CEO Joshua Western said this opens a new manufacturing frontier.
- The company plans immediate tests to map plasma behaviour in microgravity, develop a larger factory for 10,000 chips, and test Pridwen, the reentry heat shield, for material recovery.
- If scaled, these materials could supply components for 5G towers, EV chargers, and modern aircraft, while Space Forge plans to combine orbital growth with terrestrial scaling at the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials, following similar private-sector efforts by Varda Space Industries and ETH Zurich.
24 Articles
24 Articles
UK Company Makes History Sending High Heat Factory Into Space
A factory in space? It sounds like sci-fi. But it’s already happening.A Cardiff-based startup, Space Forge, has just taken a big leap toward manufacturing materials hundreds of kilometres above Earth. The company has launched a microwave-sized “space factory” into orbit—and proved it works. Its onboard furnace successfully switched on and heated up to around 1,000°C.So why go to space to make things? Simple: perfection. In microgravity, atoms li…
British company who worked with Elon Musk sends tiny factory capable of reaching 1,000C into space
A Welsh aerospace firm has deployed a miniature manufacturing facility into Earth's orbit. Space Forge, headquartered in Cardiff, has demonstrated that its compact orbital factory can operate its furnace at extreme heat levels, often as high as 1,000C.The achievement marks a major step forward in the emerging field of space-based manufacturing.The company's facility, roughly the size of a household microwave, is now functioning several hundred k…
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