Made in space: zero-gravity factories are the next frontier

From bioprinting organs to powering AI data centres, the space economy could prove as influential as the industrial revolution.

On the International Space Station, astronauts showed they could make fibre-optic cables that had fewer imperfections. Picture: NASA.

The online cloud could soon move beyond the clouds. Artificial intelligence might become extraterrestrial intelligence - at least in regard to the siting of its data centres. And you can expect to see the words “Made in Space” on products sooner than you think.

A revolution is coming, a report for the Royal Society has said, and its ramifications “are as consequential to today’s industry, society and culture as were the 18th-century Industrial Revolution and the 20th-century digital revolution in their times”.

The scientific academy’s report, considering the next 50 years of the space economy, argues that the costs of getting into space are becoming low enough that significant benefits can be realised. It says: “Space can offer enormous real-world, practical impacts for citizens, the public sector and industry.”

These range from making products such as novel pharmaceuticals or bioprinted organs to taking advantage of near-limitless solar power.

Sir Martin Sweeting, distinguished professor of space engineering at the University of Surrey and one of the chairs of the report, said it was clear that the commercialisation of space was approaching escape velocity. “Space is really accelerating. If you look over just the last five years, the number of objects going into space has gone astronomical,” he said.

Much of this is down to increasingly affordable launch costs. Due to innovations such as re-usable rockets from SpaceX, launches look set to become even cheaper.

“Now is the time to think about the implications of this, also, from a UK point of view. How do we make the most of it?” Sir Martin said.

Governments and commercial companies are looking into the advantages of orbit for manufacturing. Some molecules that could be useful in pharmaceuticals can be made only in zero gravity. Last year Rocket Lab, a US company, returned a capsule from orbit in which it had made antiviral drugs.

Crystals grow differently in space too. Redwire Space is one of a number of companies investigating the potential for making better semiconductors in orbit. On the International Space Station, astronauts showed they could make fibre-optic cables that had fewer imperfections.

One novel manufacturing industry cited by the society was bioprinting - constructing complex tissues and organs out of cells. The report said: “Some items, such as artificial human organs, are much more challenging to 3D-print on Earth, as they require each individual molecule or cell to be positioned precisely to avoid the structure collapsing. Synthetic blood vessels currently collapse on themselves.”

Many of the biggest opportunities, Sir Martin suggested, would come from working out what would be cheaper to produce away from the Earth’s surface.

Foremost among those was finding the energy for AI data centres. “Some of these AI data centres are consuming the same amount of energy as a small town,” he said. “It is a severe problem. If we move those data centres into orbit, we can use sunlight to provide the raw power - a clean energy source.”

The Times