Questions tagged [reduced-gravity-manufacturing]
Related to the manufacturing of products in reduced gravity environments and/or during spaceflight, or the techniques and logistics thereof.
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Is TIG or laser welding feasable for building aluminum habitats either on the Moon or in orbit?
The question was originally spurred by Andy Weir's Artemis - in the novel oxyacetylene and neon are extensively used for cutting and welding. TIG or laser welding seem like the obvious choices for ...
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What could we produce with a space based industry?
The astroid belt is great place to start humanity’s journey through space. I want to know, what materials and items could be produced from asteroids. I’m mainly going to ask for useful items, such ...
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Deorbit ISS vs. Preserve ISS as raw materials for ISM?
Recent news:
NASA Seeks Proposals from US Industry for Station Deorbit Spacecraft (ISS)
NASA has released a request for proposal from U.S. industry for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), a spacecraft ...
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How big does the Martian supply chain need to be, to be self sufficient?
Something I've been pondering recently is how big the manufacturing base needs to be to manufacture everything in the manufacturing base. Big in this case referring to total mass, machines required, ...
6
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Blowing UV-cured foam in space
Continuous hollow beams (usually called “booms”) have been proposed as useful components of space structures such as solar sails and arrays. One possible way to build booms in space is to extrude foam ...
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How can we source potassium fluoride outside of Earth?
Potassium fluoride is the best known terrestrial option to purify the various materials used for the manufacturing of photovoltaic panels. Many of these materials can be found in regolith. The process ...
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how much cheaper would the J Web Telescope be per unit if economies of scale were applied in the creation of a complete industrial complex on Luna? [closed]
very few items are manufactured as expensively as space based hardware for a lot of good reasons, yet one of those reasons can be fixed. if standard industrial practices such as, intermodal shipping, ...
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Recycling space debris for manufacturing in space
There are a few companies interested in manufacturing (mostly additive) in space. Let's say that by some miracle some company comes up with a space station that is capable of sending out service ...
2
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Why wouldn't vat photopolymerization work in space?
This question implied that VPP has been evaluated and discarded as a potential zero-G manufacturing method.
That may be true for layer-by-layer resin systems, but what about a two-photon system with a ...
9
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Why is the Space industry expected to flourish and grow in the near future?
I've been seeing a lot of videos talking about how the "space industry" is "exploding" and soon to be a trillion dollar industry.
Obviously I know better than to just buy into the ...
4
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What benefits or new activities could take specific advantage of variable and/or low but not microgravity environment?
Just curious really. Considering that at some point in the future there might be rotational-based habitats, this would mean there would be easy access to variable gravity and/or low gravity ...
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Have things been intentionally welded in space? If so, what kinds of metals and techniques were used, and why was it necessary?
There are several very different kinds of welding techniques used in aerospace to join pieces of metal and/or to fill small gaps (e.g. arc, TIG, friction stir, ultrasonic...)
Question(s):
Have things ...
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Challenges to constructing a "building" in Earth orbit (something like a hotel) 100% robotically?
Today my younger brother and I, while discussing the idea of building any commercial building (something like a hotel) in the Earth orbit, got into some debate with the assembling of the building in ...
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How much mass do we need to send to the Moon to set up a useful factory there? [closed]
In light of SpaceX's recently winning the contract to go to the moon for NASA, I started thinking (again) about what avenues sending a rocket that size might open in our near-future. So let's assume ...
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Has Made in Space any track record growing specialty crystals in microgravity before? ("Industrial Crystal Facility" to fly this year)
Ars Technica's There are an insane amount of cool space things happening in 2021 mentions:
This year, Made in Space's "Industrial Crystal Facility" should also fly to space. This will serve ...