NASA Hires Maxar to Study Manufacturing in Space

Sept 16, 2018
As Maxar explained in a press release, building satellites in orbit might be one way to get around the “constraints of launch vehicle volumes and schedules.” Of course, you still need to get the materials up there in the first place, to build the satellites with. But as a general rule, solid lumps of raw material aren’t as delicate as fully refined manufactured electronics and other satellite parts, and can therefore better withstand the g-forces of a space launch. You can also fit more raw materials into a space capsule, because they can be densely packed (like spools of filament used in orbital 3D printers). Fully built satellites of equivalent mass would be bulkier.
read more…