Redwire / Made In Space

[Asteroza]

Search didn't pull up a proper company thread...

https://madeinspace.us/

Made In Space works on various 3D printing/ space assembly and manufacturing in space technologies. The big things they currently do are ZBLAN optical fiber manufacturing research on ISS, and their Archinaut in-space manufacturing robot/system for assembling large space structures.

Archinaut was recently given a contract from NASA, for a demo flight on a Rocketlabs launch in 2022.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-funds-demo-of-3d-printed-spacecraft-parts-made-assembled-in-orbit

This appears to be a constrained demo of in-space manufacturing, using a truss extruder to extrude a 10m truss to support a large solar array, then using a robotic arm to flip the extruder over to build another solar array truss.



It's interesting they got the contract, rather than Tethers Unlimited's SpiderFab robot and their trusselator truss extruder.

[catdlr]

Cross post to 3-D Printing thread: 
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35889.msg1965202#msg1965202

[TrevorMonty]

Made In Space are partnering with Northrop Grumman on this project. I can see NG providing solar array technology and satellite with MIS doing printing and robotic arm. Its like to be NG that makes first commercial use of this technology.

[TrevorMonty]

Few more facts from this tweet by Andrew Rush of MIS.

5kW from Electron class smallsat, 500W/kg, scaleable to over 100kW on larger platforms.

https://twitter.com/RushSpace/status/1150766393748590593?s=09

5kW is lot power for smallsat, gives them option to drive high power radar, broadcast transmitters, high DV SEPs. With Firefly Alpha 1000kg class satellite, 25-50kW is realistic.

[TrevorMonty]

Did little more research on solar power for satellites. At present Northrop Grumman Ultraflex wings are about best at 150w/Kg.
The MIS system has over 3x mass saving and should be considerably cheaper to build especially if they can use same printer for small to large satellites. In case of larger satellites maybe case of more printers.

If you to take it a set further have the satellites final assembly done in orbit. Launch satellites to assembly orbit where they rendevous with assembly station. There they are fitted out with 3D printed solar arrays and RF dish before proceeding to final orbit. This could be under their own steam or by space tug.

[Asteroza]

This could be under their own steam...

Well with all the talk of water propellant depots for smallsats, having a tanker/assembly base in SSO servicing the various observation group satellites like the A-train is feasible, if not an outright space corral rig...

Pun Intended.

[CyndyC]

Made In Space is moving their company headquarters from Silicon Valley to Jacksonville, FL. They have had a location in Jacksonville since 2015, but will be doubling both square footage and number of job positions for the new headquarters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PHxNFALDd0

https://madeinspace.us/

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/gov-desantis-plans-major-announcement-jan-17-at-made-in-space-in-jacksonville [gives a lot of the new job openings in Jax]

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/made-in-space-establishes-headquarters-in-jacksonville

[gongora]

[Space News: Feb. 12, 2020] Blue Canyon Technologies to supply bus for Made In Space’s Archinaut One

For the Archinaut One mission, BCT will assemble and functionally test X-SAT, its largest satellite bus, prior to delivering it to Made In Space. Made In Space will perform payload integration and space vehicle testing, Brian Crum, BCT spacecraft systems engineer, said by email.

[CyndyC]

[Space News: Feb. 12, 2020] Blue Canyon Technologies to supply bus for Made In Space’s Archinaut One

For the Archinaut One mission, BCT will assemble and functionally test X-SAT, its largest satellite bus, prior to delivering it to Made In Space. Made In Space will perform payload integration and space vehicle testing, Brian Crum, BCT spacecraft systems engineer, said by email.

I like this part too:

“The implications of our ability to conduct 3D printing in space are endless and we’re proud to partner with Made In Space to make this mission a reality,” George Stafford, BCT founder and CEO, said in a statement.

3D printing in space. Not inside the ISS, in outer space. Put that in a pipe and smoke it.

[CyndyC]

Made In Space CEO says manufacturing is the 'missing piece in space exploration'

Company celebrates the fifth anniversary of its zero-gravity 3D printer

Made In Space’s goal to “enable people to sustainably live and work in space” may sound lofty, but President and CEO Andrew Rush says efforts to make it happen are underway.

Rush shared Made In Space’s vision Feb. 27 at an event celebrating the fifth anniversary of the company’s zero-gravity 3D printer.

In January, Made In Space announced it was relocating its corporate headquarters to Jacksonville from Silicon Valley. In July, it received a $73 million contract to demonstrate Archinaut, the company’s autonomous robotic manufacturing and assembly platform, on a flight mission.

Made In Space was founded in 2010 in Mountain View, California. Its Jacksonville headquarters is at 8226 Philips Highway.

Space manufacturing, Rush said, is the next step toward people living and working in space. Several companies working to improve and make launch technology more accessible, like SpaceX and Blue Origin, but that won’t allow people to live and work in space sustainably.

“You need a reason to go,” Rush said. “Every frontier we’ve ever opened as a people was because there was an economic reason for us to go and live and work in that place ... That’s what we think is the missing piece in space exploration, . . . that economically-focused motivator to go and innovate and do new things.”

Space manufacturing is the answer, he said.

“This is going to be the enabler, the economic motivation that gets us off the planet,” he said. “We want to get to factories and factory workers in space, creating things that provide economic benefits to all of humanity wherever they are.”

Made In Space has been working with NASA and the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, to test and create projects. The company’s 3D printer, the Additive Manufacturing Facility, was the first commercial manufacturing service in space.

In January 2018, the first ZBLAN optical fiber was manufactured on the ISS. The fiber showed that some products are better when made in space, Rush said. When ZBLAN is manufactured in a strong gravitational environment, it’s more prone to flaws, he said.

Twenty years from now, Rush said he sees all kinds of manufacturing done in space, including satellites. That’s what the Archinaut will attempt to do. It’s scheduled to launch no later than 2022.

“We and many others working together have been able to deliver on some of the promises of the common visions of us as a company, of us as a community, of us as a people,” Rush said. “And together I really believe we are going to continue to do that.”6

-Katie Garwood Staff Writer
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/made-in-space-ceo-says-manufacturing-is-the-missing-piece-in-space-exploration

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://youtu.be/2Pw9zlw_FHE

[CyndyC]

MADE IN SPACE PIVOTS TO MANUFACTURE FACE SHIELDS
Jax Daily Record  Fri Apr 10, 2020  05:20 AM EST

The company already produced about 200 to distribute to area hospitals in Jacksonville and Mountain View, California.

by: Katie Garwood Staff Writer

Made In Space, the Jacksonville-based space manufacturing company, is using its technology to provide supplies to health care workers.

Its facilities in Jacksonville and Moffett Field, California, are using their additive manufacturing technology to use 3D printing to make face shields for area hospitals to help with the shortage health care centers are seeing nationwide.

Without proper personal protective equipment, health care workers are at a higher risk of exposure to the virus.

“In times of crisis it is important for everyone to come together and we have an obligation to support those on the front lines,” said Made In Space Chief Engineer Michael Snyder. “Our team is using every available 3D printing resource we have to produce face shields to support our local healthcare personnel.”

Made In Space manufactured more than 200 shields in the past five days. Hospitals in Jacksonville and Mountain View, California, will receive the equipment.

The design includes a 3D printed frame with an adjustable headband, which allows the clear plastic shield to snap onto the frame.

In Jacksonville, Made In Space engineers are working with area doctors to develop a rapid response ventilator adapter, which would allow a single ventilator to support multiple patients at a time.

Made In Space announced in January it would relocate its corporate headquarters to Jacksonville from Silicon Valley. In July, it received a $73 million contract to demonstrate Archinaut, the company’s autonomous robotic manufacturing and assembly platform, on a flight mission.

Made In Space was founded in 2010 in Mountain View, California. Its Jacksonville headquarters is at 8226 Philips Highway.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/made-in-space-pivots-to-manufacture-face-shields

[TrevorMonty]

I didn't hear any mention about ZBLAN. Isn't that one of their main projects as well?

Rush talked about it during last 20min. Flown few times on ISS, upto version 4 design. I think plan is to perfect design on ISS before committing to free flier production facility. They really need unmanned free flier to reduce vibration levels. Who would own free flier and how supply chain would work is anybody's guess. Maybe cargo Dragon sitting in orbit for few weeks, however they do it, going need means to return end product to earth.

One price I've seen on web is $500k per kg so $500m 1000kg, enough to pay for Dragon mission few times over.

[high road]

I didn't hear any mention about ZBLAN. Isn't that one of their main projects as well?

Rush talked about it during last 20min. Flown few times on ISS, upto version 4 design. I think plan is to perfect design on ISS before committing to free flier production facility. They really need unmanned free flier to reduce vibration levels. Who would own free flier and how supply chain would work is anybody's guess. Maybe cargo Dragon sitting in orbit for few weeks, however they do it, going need means to return end product to earth.

One price I've seen on web is $500k per kg so $500m 1000kg, enough to pay for Dragon mission few times over.

Thanks. I reached the end of the first conversation and assumed that was all of it. I had already posted before I noticed.

So with a dragon costing 160 million to launch, and assuming this takes as long as a stay on the ISS, and 3000 kg of ZBLAN can be produced each time, that's 53k per kg of material. Does that limit it (for now) to high end applications, or is that in the range of the operating costs of the signal amplifiers it would render obsolete?

Edit: what's the price of a Photon launch? If the payload can be deorbited and safely landed, without eating into the available payload too much, Photon can serve as the free flier. That limits the investments needed to slowly scale up production. For a vanilla Electron launch cost of 5.7 milion, it only needs to return 107 kg of ZBLAN to be competitive, with a max payload mass of 160 kg. That leaves a comfortable margin for printer, heat shield and parachute.

[TrevorMonty]

A 3km fiber weighs 1kg. In submarine applications it be economic as it has x5 data capacity and x10 lower losses. The lower losses are important for submarine cables as 1/10 repeaters needed and these being electronics can fail. Repair repacement ain't cheap with undersea cable.

[TrevorMonty]

MIS long term want to assemble sats in orbit, initially it is likely to be just fit large solar arrays(see Archinaut) and RF dish. I was considering how the could do this, given partnership with NGIS a MEV based platform maybe way to go, with Cygnus used to resupply it after finishing ISS cargo mission.
Have operational satellite launched to orbit where it rendezvous with MEV and have arrays and RF dish fitted. In case of smallsat maybe even fuel topup, this would allow likes of Electron to launch larger smallsats as bulk of fuel would be provided in orbit.

For NGIS resupply by Cygnus is almost free as CRS has paid for mission, they just need to reserve extra payload mass which they might've been able to sell to rideshare.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Redwire acquires Made In Space
by Jeff Foust — June 23, 2020

WASHINGTON — Made In Space, a pioneer of in-space manufacturing and assembly technologies, is being acquired by Redwire, a new venture that is rolling up a number of smaller space companies.

The companies announced the deal June 23, terms of which they did not disclose.

https://spacenews.com/redwire-acquires-made-in-space/

[Blackjax]

Redwire acquires Made In Space
by Jeff Foust — June 23, 2020

WASHINGTON — Made In Space, a pioneer of in-space manufacturing and assembly technologies, is being acquired by Redwire, a new venture that is rolling up a number of smaller space companies.

The companies announced the deal June 23, terms of which they did not disclose.

https://spacenews.com/redwire-acquires-made-in-space/

This is sounding very similar to the acquisition of Altius by Voyager.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=22738.msg2031270#msg2031270

A parent company creating itself by buying up and networking together a bunch of small nimble companies with existing niche technology and talent.  Are we seeing a new industry trend here?

[Asteroza]

Redwire acquires Made In Space
by Jeff Foust — June 23, 2020

WASHINGTON — Made In Space, a pioneer of in-space manufacturing and assembly technologies, is being acquired by Redwire, a new venture that is rolling up a number of smaller space companies.

The companies announced the deal June 23, terms of which they did not disclose.

https://spacenews.com/redwire-acquires-made-in-space/

This is sounding very similar to the acquisition of Altius by Voyager.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=22738.msg2031270#msg2031270

A parent company creating itself by buying up and networking together a bunch of small nimble companies with existing niche technology and talent.  Are we seeing a new industry trend here?

Some VC'S executing on the newspace moneyball premise?

http://redwire.space/

[TrevorMonty]

With MIS Archinaut solar array technology the group could build smallsats with many kws of solar power,  good selling point with no direct competition at this stage.