UK company sends mini factory into space to make ultra-pure semiconductors

A Cardiff-based company has sent a microwave-sized factory into orbit, aiming to manufacture semiconductors in space.

Space Forge demonstrated that its furnace, aboard the satellite, can reach temperatures of around 1,000C, BBC reports.

The firm said conditions in space allow atoms to align in a perfectly ordered 3D structure, producing semiconductors up to 4,000 times purer than those made on Earth.

“The work that we're doing now is allowing us to create semiconductors up to 4,000 times purer in space than we can currently make here today,” said Josh Western, CEO of Space Forge. “This sort of semiconductor would go on to be in the 5G tower in which you get your mobile phone signal, it's going to be in the car charger you plug an EV into, it's going to be in the latest planes.”

Veronica Viera, the company’s payload operations lead, said seeing glowing plasma from the space furnace was a milestone. “This is so important because it's one of the core ingredients that we need for our in-space manufacturing process. So being able to demonstrate this is amazing,” she said.

Space Forge plans to build a larger space factory capable of producing material for 10,000 chips and will test a heat shield, named Pridwen, after King Arthur’s legendary shield, to safely return materials to Earth.

“In-space manufacturing is something that is happening now,” said Libby Jackson, head of space at the Science Museum.

“It's the early days, and they're still showing this in small numbers at the moment. But by proving the technology, it really opens the door for an economically viable product, where things can be made in space and return to Earth and have use and benefit to everybody on Earth. And that's really exciting.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev