Growing Space Manufacturing Sector Expands Opportunities for Innovation

The value that space provides in our everyday lives has achieved global acceptance. We rely on satellites to provide GPS, to speed banking transactions, and to show us how weather patterns and climate change affect our daily commute and our long-term environment. Research on the International Space Station (ISS) has contributed to billions in new medicines and product advancements we use on a daily basis.

But what’s about to happen in space holds even more potential to transform our lives, build the space workforce of the future, and offer possibilities that will continue to enhance the economic reality of doing business in space.

Manufacturing remains the backbone of the $469 billion space economy as it expands its current uses and explores new possibilities. The number of payloads placed into orbit increased 30% in 2021, and companies are continuing to increase satellite production. HawkEye 360 recently opened a new satellite manufacturing facility to increase the size of its constellation in low Earth orbit. Commercial satellite manufacturing alone grew to $4.3 billion in 2021 — 48% greater than it was two years prior.

Skilled manufacturing jobs are becoming increasingly valuable to space companies as, launch and payload activity grows. Space vehicle manufacturing employment in the U.S. has grown by more than 20,000 jobs in the past five years. These jobs have an average annual wage of over $100,000, but skilled labor shortages could slow industry growth.

Space Manufacturing Launches Into Orbit

On-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (OSAM) is a growing sector of the space industry. Payload sizes are constrained to the size of launch vehicles, so large structures cannot be sent to space fully assembled. Robotic arms have been used to aid assembly and maintenance of space for decades. The International Space Station has three robotic arms and a Japanese company plans to send a fourth in 2023.

Ambitions for lunar and deep-space exploration have driven the research of in-space manufacturing’s potential. Building large structures on the moon will likely be feasible only through new OSAM capabilities, and rocket propellant could even be manufactured from regolith on the moon to serve as a gas station for deep-space missions.

Made In Space (now Redwire Space) received a $74 million grant from NASA to demonstrate the ability to 3D print and assemble a 16-meter solar array in space from a single payload. This mission passed its critical design review in April 2022 and could launch as early as next year.

Some aerospace corporations are expanding into in-space manufacturing. 

Airbus, in partnership with the European Space Agency, has created the first metal 3D printer to send to the ISS as early as next year. The technology can print entirely new spacecraft parts in space and has the potential to recycle metal from defunct satellites already on orbit.

Industries on Earth Seek Microgravity Advantage

While in-space manufacturing has obvious benefits for space missions, it could also revolutionize certain on-Earth industries. Manufacturing in a microgravity environment can enhance applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to optic fibers. The ISS hosts multiple bioprinters experimenting with tissue and organ printing without the constraints of scaffolding needed to support the complex structures on Earth.

Manufacturing in space on dedicated platforms will be more costly than on Earth, but there is also a large market potential. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation estimates revenues more than $2.6 billion for electronic goods such as fiber-optic cables, and McKinsey & Company estimates that pharmaceuticals alone could reach $4.2 billion in revenues if select companies partnered with space companies in microgravity product development. Amgen developed two new osteoporosis treatments through microgravity research on the ISS, and those drugs generated $4.6 billion in sales in 2020.

Companies such as Space Forge and Varda Space Industries, which are developing in-space manufacturing platforms, have received large investments in recent years. Varda has raised more than $50 million since it was founded in 2020 and will launch its first facility in 2023. Space Forge, a U.K.-based firm, has raised more than $10 million.

These are just a few examples of the research, development, and expected growth that will happen in space in the coming years. New nations and private companies are planning replacements to the aging Space Station. These new stations will expand microgravity research, vastly increase on-orbit manufacturing, and promise to make space tourism routine.

Inspiring the Future Space Workforce

The backbone of all this potential is a workforce with the skills to create an on-orbit environment that will fuel more manufacturing and even greater capabilities in space. We need workers who will harness the incredible advancements we have seen in space in recent years, will return those benefits to life on Earth, and advance humankind’s ascent into the frontier of space.

Two Space Foundation initiatives, the Center for Innovation and Education and Global Alliance, endeavor to help create the workforce of the future and inspire entrepreneurs to create new sectors of the space industry. The Center for Innovation and Education is a lifelong learning platform for the global space ecosystem that delivers workforce development programs and economic opportunity for students, teachers, entrepreneurs, and professionals worldwide. Our Global Alliance facilitates collaboration across the global space ecosystem, connecting commercial, education and government stakeholders for networking, open dialogues, and joint programs.

“By working with young people early in their educational careers, we create the energy and know-how that every portion of the global space community is demanding — a ready workforce capable of serving missions bigger than we can imagine today”

New Space Foundation efforts include a collaboration with the White House National Space Council and NASA to build our Moon Colony Kit. Embodying a “Space for Everyone” theme, the kit allows students in fourth through eighth grades to explore 50 STEAM careers associated with establishing a Moon colony.

By working with young people early in their educational careers, we create the energy and know-how that every portion of the global space community is demanding — a ready workforce capable of serving missions bigger than we can imagine today.

Look at where imagination and innovation have taken us already — to the threshold of seeing rocket fuel developed from moon dust and new satellites manufactured from space junk. If we can envision and accomplish that, imagine what we will achieve as we dedicate more resources into developing a skilled space workforce to build on that future.