In December, Space Forge successfully activated an orbital furnace on its ForgeStar-1 satellite. This groundbreaking accomplishment represents an important step towards its core mission—creating high-performance materials in the unique microgravity environment of space. This one-of-a-kind furnace produces a moving, continuous plasma jet. It is uniquely positioned to grow the seed crystals critical for substrates based on gallium, aluminum nitride, or silicon carbide. The company, founded in 2018, envisions that materials manufactured in space could lead to ultra-efficient next-generation electronics, ultrafast optical networks, and breakthroughs in pharmaceutical research.
Joshua Western, co-founder and CEO of Space Forge, highlighted the benefits of crystal growth in microgravity environments. He went on to say that the gravity of Earth makes the process much more difficult, creating a non-uniformity in the crystal structure. On Earth, you have a special challenge. Some crystals eventually grow within the reactor, while others fail to do so, due in part to the influence of gravity on the process of hot versus cold.
Space Forge’s ForgeStar-1 satellite will deploy a new type of heat shield in its de-orbit maneuver later this year. This strategic move is primarily aimed at helping the company gain greater insights into the effectiveness of its manufacturing practices.
The Promise of Space-Grown Crystals
Through their unique orbital furnace, Space Forge wants to prove that they can create the perfect environment for growing crystals of superconductors. Doing so is one of their top-level goals. Preliminary results suggest that crystals grown in space have greatly increased electron mobility over crystals grown on Earth. This breakthrough has the potential to lead to 20 percent – 40 percent better switching efficiency in electronic devices.
Western pointed out some of the radical differences in environmental factors between Earth and space. If you’re worried that nitrogen will get in the way of your growth cycle, just remember this: inside a vacuum chamber here on Earth, nitrogen can be as low as 10^-11. In space, above 500 kilometers altitude, it’s naturally occurring at 10 to the -22,” he said.
The implications of these findings are substantial. High-performance power devices and other advanced electronics might find their near-ideal semiconductor crystals growing in microgravity. Some analysts are forecasting that the in-orbit manufacturing market alone can skyrocket to $28.19 billion by 2034. This momentous projection demonstrates a vast opportunity to invest in and innovate the field.
Challenges and Future Plans
Despite these encouraging signs, hurdles still lie ahead for the company, which has ambitious plans to fly and land on a regular basis. The company has successfully flown 19 crewed orbital flights to prove its return asymmetric technology and still has two more crewed flight tests planned for this year. As of now, Space Forge only has the capabilities to bring back small amounts of material from space. They’re looking to return only a few kilograms in total on their follow-up mission next year.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is currently the chosen vehicle for delivering payloads to low Earth orbit at an estimated cost of $1,500 per kilogram. Transportation back to Earth Materials produced on the International Space Station (ISS) have a proven route back to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon capsule. As good as these services are, the demand far outweighs the availability.
Matt Francis, an industry analyst, expressed concerns regarding the economic viability of producing materials in space as costs decrease on Earth. “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,” he remarked. Francis emphasized that there was a time when it was logical to send materials into space due to high costs. He says this time the landscape has shifted.
The Potential Impact on Technology
In fact, the long-term implications of space-grown materials go well beyond mere cost savings. As E. Steve Putna noted, breakthrough developments in crystal growth would be needed to attain the substantial energy savings. He projected potential savings up to half of that in large infrastructure deployments like 5G telecom towers. He told The Washington Post that this next generation of crystal technology has the potential to transform AI data centers. In these deep-dive centers, exorbitant cooling costs turn into an enormous bottleneck.
“If a space-grown substrate increases the yield of a $10,000 high-end AI processor from 50 percent to 90 percent or allows a quantum computer to function closer to room temperature rather than near absolute zero, the launch cost becomes a negligible fraction of the total value created,” Putna explained.