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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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Challenges and power required to make useable iron from iron oxide on the surface of Mars?
There is a very large amount of iron oxide on the surface of Mars within easy reach (once you are there of course).
What would be the practical challenges to collecting this and turning it into usable ...
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Demonstrating molten oxide electrolysis on the Moon, what would require the most power, keeping it molten or driving the electrolysis?
It seems that oxygen may be extractable from oxides in lunar regolith using "some variant of the" molten oxide electrolysis.
Assuming that solar energy is used in a lunar setting, what would ...
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Is additive manufacturing ever tested in space or are there some future missions which plan to do so?
Unlike ISS where astronauts can count on supply of mission critical parts from Earth, future interplanetary travelers must have sufficient number of spare parts onboard, or technology to produce them ...
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What are "applied moments of inertia" in the context of STS-61B's EASE/ACCESS?
This answer links to https://history.nasa.gov/spacesuits.pdf which shows the image below. (fyi Wikipedia's STS-61 is not to be confused with STS-61A, STS-61B or STS-61C, see answers to Why so many STS-...
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Asteroid Mining on Ceres
I am an Architecture and Urbanism student. Currently I am working on designing a space habitat for mineral mining on Ceres.
I have been reading about space mining techniques mostly on near Earth ...
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How many 3D printers have been in space?
The Phys.org article Artificial meat is now made in space, coming to a supermarket near you has me wondering
how many 3D printers have been in space?
how many 3D printers have been in space but not ...
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What (if any) replacement parts have been 3D printed on the ISS and then installed?
The Phys.org article Six degrees of nuclear separation contains the following sentence in the introduction paragraph for background
Astronauts now print their own parts in space to repair the ...
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Which solar system objects could a space elevator be built on with modern tech?
Which solar system objects have the right combination of low gravity and fast spinning rate, that an object tall enough to be a space elevator could be built on with modern construction tech?
By "...
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Is there likely to be much nitrogen in the Moon's inner crust?
Is there likely to be much nitrogen in the Moon's inner crust? My thinking is that if we can extract enough nitrogen from the moon, we may be able to build a Terran space elevator out of Kevlar ...
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Where will we get nitrogen in space?
It's expensive to launch things out of a gravity well. So in the future, as we seek to manufacture things in space, it's worth exploring the possibility of harvesting them there as well.
In the ...
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Examples of space research applied to Earthly manufacturing
I remember reading utopian predictions about space manufacturing. It's clear that factories in space delivering consumer goods for your local retailer is not going to happen in the near future.
But I'...
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Could Martian soil be used as material for a 3d metal printer?
I know this sounds like a 3d printing question, but it is more space oriented so bear with me.
My reasoning for this post is that the Martian soil is comprised mainly of iron oxide, which gives it ...
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Supports in 3d printing
Do astronauts print 3D in space with supports? They are needed only because of gravity, which - on a space station - obviously is not a problem.
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Comparing gravity wells: Earth from the Moon vs Surface of Mars
Hypothetically if a manufacturer was considering building a factory on the Moon or on Mars, which location has the smaller gravity well to escape? Assuming final destination of the goods produced is ...
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Which 3D printing technology will Archinaut vessel use?
The 3D printing company Made in Space works on a device to introduce 3D printing in space referenced as Archinaut. Is it known which technology/material will be used?
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3D metal printer in microgravity possible?
After reading on regarding in situ manufacturing in space, I've found out there is already a 3D printer for plastic on ISS, and the company behind it works on a space craft to manufacture larger (...
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Part 1 - Wires, fasteners, and other metal hardware - mundane in-situ on Mars
Fasteners - screws, bolts, washers, brackets, conduit, nuts, wire - both coated and uncoated
There are many sources of how we will mine the regolith for ores that contain useful quantities of water, ...
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Manufacturing rope, textile, and clothing on Mars
I'm wondering what the most space and mass efficient system is to construct woven products such as rope, textiles, or clothing on Mars. Current textile production strategies often rely on methods ...
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What was being manufactured on Salyut and Mir?
Last weekend I attended a prelection at Polish Aviation Museum, on modern trends in aviation. The lecturer talked quite a bit of history too, and Soviet achievements were in as much focus as the ...
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What engineering processes (satellite/space vehicle related) require an atmosphere
So we all know that there are lots of engineering processes that are made 100 times better by negligible gravity, and that certain engineering process need to be performed in a vacuum (electron beam ...
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Manufacturing solar cells on the Moon
How practical is it to manufacture solar cells on the Moon? I understand there is a lot of silica there, and in theory if we could robotically make and deploy solar cells on the Moon, then we would (...
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Is current state-of-the-art additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing) good enough to build parts out of Moon/Mars dust?
Additive manufacturing is currently being proposed as a way to greatly decrease the cost of establishing a permanent (robotic or human) presence on the Moon or Mars by sending only 3D printers to ...
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