Category Archives: Space business

Redwire makes first sale of space-manufactured optical crystal

Seems like the announcement shown below from Redwire Space of a commercial sale of optical crystal made in microgravity should be getting more attention. It will definitely provide some encouragement to the many companies building crewed and uncrewed orbital platforms for which space manufacturing is a key target market. Only a two gram sampling was bought but if sold in quantity at the same price, such crystal would bring in $2 million per kilogram, which is 100 to 1000 times the cost of sending a kilogram into space and bringing it back.

[I’ll note, though, that this is not in fact the first product made in space and sold on earth.  Micrometer-sized,  nearly perfectly round, latex spheres were made on Space Shuttle flights in the early 1980s . The were sold by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as reference standards for calibrating optical instruments and for size comparisons for particles used in medicines, paints,  cosmetics, etc. The market was not enormous, however, and the number of space-made spheres soon satisfied the demand. For more details, see Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR): A materials processing space shuttle mid-deck payload and  Certification of 10μm Diameter Polystyrene Spheres (“Space Beads”) – Tom Lettieri, NIST (pdf).]

Redwire Opens New Commercial Market for In Space Production
with First Sale of Space-Manufactured Optical Crystal

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (June 23, 2022) – Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW), a leader in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, announced the first sale of its space-manufactured optical crystal to researchers at the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS), a leading electron microscopy facility, at The Ohio State University. The transaction recorded two grams of space-manufactured crystal were sold to Ohio State. Based on the sample size sold, the space-manufactured crystals have an approximate value of $2 million per kilogram.

The space-enabled optical crystal was manufactured in Redwire’s Industrial Crystallization Facility (ICF) onboard the International Space Station (ISS). This transaction marks the first time that a space-enabled materials product has been sold on Earth—a significant milestone for space commercialization and a demand signal for Redwire’s space-based manufacturing.

Redwire crystallization modules used on the ISS to make optical crystals. Credits: Redwire

Space-manufactured optical crystals could provide significant improvements to high-power, large laser systems used on Earth. The high-energy laser market is seeing strong growth with an increasing number of terrestrial applications from advanced manufacturing and machining to weapons systems. These laser systems are enabled by high efficiency laser lenses that are produced using optical crystals.

Currently, optical crystals manufactured on Earth have lower damage thresholds due to gravity-induced inclusions and defects which limits the output of high-power laser systems since the lenses are subjected to laser-induced damage.  Space-manufactured optical crystals could improve system performance because they have a higher laser damage threshold due to fewer inclusions and defects because of the space manufacturing process.

“This is an exciting milestone that validates our commercialization plan for manufacturing space-enabled products in low-Earth orbit and further stimulates demand for in-space production,”

said Andrew Rush, Redwire’s President and COO.

“This is a watershed moment for space commercialization. While we are continuing to refine production techniques for a variety of products, we are now expanding our focus beyond pathfinder demonstrations to increasing production of space-enabled products sustainably, profitably, and at scale.”

[ Dr. John Horack, Professor and Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace at Ohio State, said,]

“The ability for Ohio State to work with space-grown crystals improves our ability to grow CEMAS as a signature materials characterization and research facility unlike any other, for space-based and terrestrial materials, addressing complex challenges in domains ranging from cancer to planetary science,”

CEMAS researchers will study the space-grown crystal and compare it to Earth-grown potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystals using aberration-corrected electron microscopy to observe atomic-scale differences in impurities and defects between the two materials, something that has not yet been achieved. The space-manufactured crystal presents an opportunity for CEMAS to build the group’s capabilities for analyzing materials manufactured in space and those that could be returned from asteroids, the Moon and Mars in the future. The insights from this research could also inform the development process of space-manufactured optical crystals to optimize future products.

Launched in early 2021, ICF is a commercial in-space manufacturing facility designed to demonstrate microgravity-enhanced techniques for growing inorganic KDP crystals that are commonly used in high-energy laser systems on Earth.  The facility is just one of several Redwire ISS payloads developed with the purpose of catalyzing and scaling demand for commercial capabilities in LEO by producing high-value products for terrestrial use.

To learn more about Redwire’s in-space manufacturing capabilities, visit https://redwirespace.com/capabilities/ismo/

About Redwire: Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW) is a leader in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, with valuable IP for solar power generation and in-space 3D printing and manufacturing. With decades of flight heritage combined with the agile and innovative culture of a commercial space platform, Redwire is uniquely positioned to assist its customers in solving the complex challenges of future space missions. For more information, please visit www.redwirespace.com.

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Rothblatt/NSS Space Settlement in Our Lifetime competition renewed for 2022

An announcement from the National Space Society (NSS):

NSS and Martine Rothblatt Renew the
Space Settlement in Our Lifetime Business Plan Competition
for 2022

Second Annual Business Plan Contest Doubles Prize Money

The National Space Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Martine Rothblatt has renewed her challenge to the space community to develop compelling business plans to enable space settlement in our lifetimes. The annual Rothblatt Space Settlement in Our Lifetime competition consists of three awards of $16,000, $10,000, and $6,000 USD for the best business plans that reflect Dr. Rothblatt’s vision for space settlement.

Dr. Rothblatt has been a pioneer in satellite communications, founding the Sirius XM radio network in 1990. She later became the chairwoman and CEO of United Therapeutics, a biotechnology company devoted to prolonging human life. Her trailblazing work in organ replacement has saved countless lives and will be a key technology in creating sustainable communities in space. Her vision for space settlement is vast, encompassing the next century of human migration into space.

“Dr. Rothblatt’s vision for space settlement explores every facet of our ultimate journey beyond Earth,” said Michelle Hanlon, the president of the National Space Society. “She foresees not just the migration of human beings to free-floating space habitats, but the preservation of individual human identities via digital ‘mindfiles’ that can be integrated into new bodies. This kind of thinking really pushes the boundaries of human creativity and innovation. We are confident that her Space Settlement in our Lifetime business plan competition will continue to push the same boundaries.”

The first Rothblatt business plan competition selected three prize winners at the NSS’s Space Settlement Summit in Beverly Hills, California in November 2021. For 2022, winners will be announced at the society’s annual International Space Development Conference in Arlington, Virginia which runs from May 27-29. One representative from each winning team will have their travel expenses covered to attend the conference.

The Space Settlement in our Lifetime competition is open to anyone, of any age, anywhere on Earth (local laws and restrictions may apply). Those wishing to enter must create a compelling business plan that will help to enable some aspect or increment of space settlement. See more at spacebizplan.nss.org. Two informative presentations by Dr. Rothblatt can be viewed there. The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2021. All business plan submissions should be made in PDF format.

“We hope to see some remarkable new business plans, just as we did in 2021,” said Rod Pyle, Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine, NSS’s official publication. “Martine is an incredible person—one of a small number I can call a true visionary—and her concepts for the future of humanity are truly inspiring. Writing about competition for Ad Astra each year fills me with a sense of hope for our future in space. Thanks again to Martine for supporting this endeavor, and I encourage anyone with a profound idea for a business that will, in some way, support the future of human communities in space to enter the competition!”

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The High Frontier: An Easier Way

“Space for Humanity” reserves payload space on Xplore’s first Moon mission

Xplore is a company founded to provide low cost access to the inner solar system for missions ranging from government sponsored scientific studies to commercial endeavors. They also want to invite public participation such as program to send names to the Moon:

Xplore will fly your name on our first mission to orbit the Moon, expected 2022. Add your name to the list and you can come along on our Moon Xpedition™.

The company today announced the first customer to place a payload on their Moon mission:

Xplore To Host Space for Humanity Payload on its First Moon Mission
Xplore Reserves Private Payload for Non-profit Organization, Space for Humanity

Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a ServiceTM today announced that space industry leader Dylan Taylor plans to reserve payload space on Xplore’s first mission beyond Earth orbit. The payload will be hosted onboard the XcraftTM, Xplore’s highly capable, multi-mission spacecraft designed to perform frequent, low-cost missions in the inner solar system.

The Xplore Xcraft™ will be a standardized vehicle for deep space exploration. Credits: Xplore

The diverse payload reservations Xplore is attracting now includes private citizens. Dylan Taylor is a successful founder, philanthropist, prominent space investor and also the CEO of Voyager Space Holdings, a multi-national space holding firm that acquires and integrates leading space exploration enterprises globally. He is also the first private citizen to manufacture an item in space when a gravity meter he co-designed and commissioned was printed on the International Space Station in 2017. Dylan has commissioned the Xplore payload for the benefit of Space for Humanity, a non-profit organization dedicated to democratizing space and supporting the education and future spaceflight for citizen astronauts.

Mr. Taylor said,

“My decision to choose Xplore as our payload hosting provider was a simple one – Xplore is opening up new markets for commercial space, and I fully support their business model and experienced team. Their next-generation ESPA-class Xcraft and payload hosting services gives the flexibility needed to design the optimum payload and send it to space with Xplore.” He added, “Space as a Service™ is more than a tagline – they are ushering in a new way of doing business that meets my organizations’ needs and supports a wide range of customers.”

Xplore Founder Lisa Rich, said,

“Xplore is honored to have Space for Humanity as one of the forward-thinking commercial customers on our first mission. We are pleased to serve a non-profit and appreciate Space for Humanity’s confidence in Xplore and our team. We have simplified the complexity behind sending payloads to space so that anyone with a purpose can fly their payload.” She added, “In the same way that we allow scientists to focus on the science, not the spacecraft, Xplore gives Space for Humanity the freedom to focus on the purpose of their payload and how they plan to support it via meaningful engagement and outreach programs that benefit their organization’s mission.”

Dylan Taylor said,

“With Xplore, our mission does not need a design team or spacecraft to achieve our goals. We can engage Xplore to send our payload to space – which allows us to stay 100% focused on our core activities.” He added: “Xplore can take us to our desired destinations beyond Earth orbit – something few companies can do. Further, we will benefit from the creative input they provide as well as the flexibility of the missions they can perform.”

Xplore’s spacecraft, Xcraft™, is a highly-capable ESPA-class spacecraft that can carry 30kg – 70kg of payload in 50U volume and provides customers with the opportunity to fly scheduled or custom orbital missions. The company works with commercial customers, non-profits, sponsors, and organizations seeking to send their brands, instruments and other materials to space. While most customers desire to fly instruments to gather valuable science data, an increasing number of customers seek to use the significance of a space mission to send creative payloads and magnify the human impact of their message.

Xplore Xcraft in orbit around the Moon. Credits: Xplore

Lisa Rich said,

“The value of sending a payload beyond Earth orbit — and having Space for Humanity become one of the first private customers to do so, is exemplary. Citizens identify with the import of these human achievements and want to participate. We want to provide customers as well as the public with the ability to take part in our great space future.”

Xplore launched its public outreach website, Xplore Space, for this very purpose. Their site, https://www.xplorespace.com/ gives citizens and space enthusiasts alike the ability to send their name on Xplore’s first mission to the Moon, for free. Names of citizens will be saved on Xplore’s data storage system and placed inside of the Xplore Xcraft. While Xplore performs science missions for space agencies and researchers, citizens will become voyagers alongside scientific instruments making new discoveries. Millions of people will join Xplore on its missions, participating in the exploration of space.

Lisa Rich said,

“We believe that space is for everyone and that all should have access to it. Xplore is on a mission to accelerate scientific knowledge to benefit humanity — and for our part, we will start by expanding the human footprint by giving citizens the ability to send their name to the Moon so they are represented on our journey.”

About Xplore: Xplore is a Seattle-based company offering Space as a Service™. Xplore provides hosted payloads, communication relay services and exclusive datasets to its customers via the Xcraft™, the company’s multi-mission spacecraft. Xplore’s mission is to expand robotic exploration via commercial missions at and beyond Earth, to the Moon, Mars, Venus, Lagrange points and near-Earth asteroids for national space agencies, national security agencies, sovereign space agencies and universities. Visit: https://www.xplore.com

To Send Your Name to the Moon, visit: https://www.xplorespace.com/

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Videos: TMRO Orbit 12.13 – “How we will survive out in Space”

The latest episode from the TMRO.tv Space webcasts: How we will survive out in Space – Orbit 12.13

Engineer Brittany Zimmerman of Paragon Space Development Corporation joins us to talk about the different ways Space wants to kill you. We cover how Paragon is working on Life Support And Environmental Control Systems, including water purification to help keep us all alive on out journey to Mars. This one is an eye opener including a lot of stuff that will be required if us ugly giant bags of mostly water are to colonize the solar system.

A recent space news report:

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Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

Space access: New Shepard test date set + Latest from Vector, Relativity Space, Firefly, & RocketStar

Some rocket news:

** Blue Origin announces a New Shepard test flight on Monday, Jan. 21st :

** Vector Launch update – Bob Zimmerman reports on a tour of the Vector rocket factory and an update on the company’s development and test launch plans Making smallsat rockets at Vector | Behind The Black:

Cantrell then outlined their launch schedule beyond this. If all goes well, they hope to make their first launch to orbit in June, followed by launches in August, October (two), and December. When I told him I would not be surprised if this schedule did not happen, he readily agreed. Like Rocket Lab, these first launches are tests, and when you do tests, you must not be surprised if things to go wrong. Like Rocket Lab however Cantrell is confident they will quickly figure out any issues and move forward.

His confidence seems reasonable, based on the significant capital the company has raised, and based on what I saw during his tour….

** Relativity Space awarded lease of a legacy launch facility at Cape Canaveral:

Forbes:

Los Angeles-based Relativity Space, which is working to develop 3D-printed rockets, announced Thursday that it won a competitive bidding process with the United States Air Force to build and operate Launch Complex 16 (LC-16) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The company says it will launch its first rocket from the site in 2020.

This agreement makes Relativity only the fourth commercial space station to operate at the iconic launch site, after United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and SpaceX. Assuming that certain contractual milestones are set, Relativity could potentially maintain exclusive use of the site for 20 years.

“LC-16 is a historic site,” Relativity cofounder and Under 30 alumnus Tim Ellis told Forbes. “A lot of programs went through here. It was initially developed for Titan missile launches, then it was used during the Gemini program for NASA and was also used to test components for the Apollo program. And so there’s a really amazing historical significance.”

** Firefly Aerospace reportedly will build a factory and launch facility at Cape Canaveral: Firefly Aerospace is behind Florida rocket project: sources | Reuters

Firefly Aerospace Inc, a resurgent rocket company founded by a former SpaceX engineer, plans to build a factory and launch site at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Spaceport in a $52 million deal, people familiar with the project said on Wednesday.

** RocketStar suborbital rocket test will launch from a floating platform off Cape Canaveral on Feb. 7th:

** A new New Glenn animation preview video was released this week by Blue and it shows some changes to the design such as a wider fairing:

Debuting from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2021, New Glenn will serve commercial, civil and national security customers from around the world. Featuring a 7 meter fairing with more than 2X the available volume of any rocket flying today and twin BE-3U engines powering the most capable upper stage in the market, New Glenn can launch the full range of satellite payloads. Seven reusable BE-4 engines generating 3.85 million pounds of thrust power the first stage designed to launch 25 times and land safely down range on a moving ship. New Glenn is beginning to take shape at our state-of-the-art rocket factory. Visit us at www.blueorigin.com to learn more.

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Telescopes and Binoculars at Amazon