Founded in 2018, Space Forge is a groundbreaking company. It is positioning itself at the forefront of the emerging space-grown crystal sectors. With their ambitious goals, the company hopes to expand ultra-efficient next-generation electronics, ultrafast optical networks, and dramatic accelerations in pharmaceutical research. Last week, they lit up their orbital furnace on the ForgeStar-1 experimental satellite. This change gets them closer to commercializing high-performance semiconductor materials just like those that could revolutionize communications, medicine and transportation beyond imagination.
As the ForgeStar-1 satellite will ultimately decommission, so does its return to Earth. So far it hasn’t begun churning out a torrent of super-hot plasma that forms near-perfect semiconductor crystals in orbit. This new and creative process makes unique ways of developing substrates possible. It allows the mass production of gallium and aluminum nitride or silicon carbide, which are important precursors to advanced power devices. Space Forge expects to collect its first batch of space-grown crystals during a follow-on mission planned for next year.
The Science Behind Space-Grown Crystals
Joshua Western, co-founder and CEO of Space Forge expanded on some of the unique benefits of growing crystals in microgravity. He described how, on Earth, our gravitational forces tend to break up the crystalline growth before they can take place. On Earth, it’s entirely possible for specific crystals to develop in heterogeneously inside of the reactor. This occurs due to gravity’s effect on temperature variations.
“On Earth, you have trouble that, perhaps, some crystals grow around the interior of the reactor and not in other parts because the process between hot and cold is influenced by gravity,” – Joshua Western
“For example, if you’re worried about nitrogen interfering with your growth process, on Earth [in a vacuum chamber] nitrogen might be present at concentration of around 10 to the -11,” – Joshua Western
“In space, above 500 kilometers altitude, it’s naturally present at 10 to the -22.” – Joshua Western
It is this strongly controlled environment where groundbreaking innovations in semiconductor technology can be propelled. These increases will benefit everything from artificial intelligence accelerators to quantum computing hardware.
Market Potential and Industry Perspectives
Industry analysts are bullish on the future of in-orbit manufacturing. According to some estimates, this market might grow up to $28.19 billion by 2034. E. Steve Putna, director of the Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute, emphasized the significance of these developments:
“Space-grown crystals have demonstrated significantly higher electron mobility, which could translate to a 20-40 percent increase in switching efficiency compared to Earth-grown counterparts.” – E. Steve Putna
The implications are incredible. Just one kilogram of space-grown semiconductor might enable terrestrial manufacturers to generate metric tons of high-performance material. This boost in yield has the potential to be a significant boon to the profitability of both consumer and enterprise level processors.
Not all leadership in the industry are ready to embrace this shift as a straight-up positive. Matt Francis, CEO of Ozark Integrated Circuits, testified about recent progress in the market. These trends have greatly increased the availability and lowered the cost of silicon substrates for all comers.
“While I remember paying $20k a wafer in the early days, we are down in the hundreds of dollars range in volume markets like power,” – Matt Francis
He was particularly wary of putting money into materials that are grown exclusively in space. He acknowledged that prices are coming down, but he thinks they’re not falling fast enough to make them viable compared to alternatives on Earth.
“When they were a prized commodity, maybe sending to space made sense. While the cost of space is decreasing, it’s not decreasing faster than the cost of producing wafers.” – Matt Francis
Future Directions and Challenges
As you can tell, we are super excited about all the amazing things that Space Forge are enabling. Experts remain wary of the prospects for mass-producing bulk materials in space. Anne Wilson highlighted this concern by stating:
“I don’t think that microgravity is going to be ideal for the manufacture of bulk materials,” – Anne Wilson
She admitted that specialized materials for specialized applications would make the case for developing those investments in technologies.
Western is very excited about the new energy saving opportunities that these new technological developments can provide. He emphasizes that using space-grown materials would provide massive cost savings to infrastructure managers.
“There is potential for significant energy savings, perhaps as much as 50 percent within large infrastructure installations such as [5G] towers,” – Joshua Western
Space Forge is already deep into testing the truly exciting possibilities of space grown crystals. This has positioned the young company at the intersection of innovation and practicality. The next American industrial revolution This new era could bring great prospects for industries dependent on innovative materials and technologies.