At the beginning of the next decade, humanity can make the epochal leap forward and develop a new type of space activities – industrial production in microgravity. The object with the index “ST-42” from Space Tango is a robotic space mini-factory can be built and launched into orbit in the next few years.
Today, 15 leading government organizations that oversee the operation of the ISS, prepared and conducted a fair amount of experiments on the organization in space of production processes. We know how to handle raw materials, to create a billet, to collect part of the mechanisms for chemical and biological responses in microgravity. The next stage is to build a small station where you will be able to do it commercially, and to make it work.
The concept of ST-42
Scientists want to develop the technologies in which the rate will be on the use of weightlessness, on new ways of controlling the environment and tools. It is assumed that the mission ST-42 will consist of a series of experiments, from simple to complex, during which the orbit will created several samples of different products, then ship them back to Earth. Here they will be carefully scrutinized in order to confirm or deny the benefits of space manufacturing.
Space Tango are very optimistic, but cautiously. The main object of investment – the space station itself, its systems, Autonomous machines, control technology, etc. These technologies, even without reference to space, will truly become extremely popular in the near future.
Source — Space Tango