Having revolutionized the space launch system and space-based telecommunications, SpaceX has fixed on a new industry to conquer. Elon Musk’s company is developing a business called Starfall which will facilitate space-based manufacturing.

SpaceX’s approach is something of a departure from other companies such as Vast and Axiom which envision private space stations serviced by spacecraft such as the Crew Dragon.

The Starship would take a number of capsules outfitted as miniature labs or factories to low Earth orbit. After a period of research into high valued products such as pharmaceuticals or computer chips or their outright manufacture, the capsules would return to Earth independently.

SpaceX is already in talks with potential customers for Starfall. The company envisions the new business beginning at the end of the current decade.

A recent piece in Forbes has an excellent rundown about the state of play in regards to space manufacturing. Experiments on the International Space Station by companies such as Merck and Redwire have shown the promise of products that use the unique properties of the space environment, including microgravity, hard vacuum and even radiation is very real.

The question is, when will the promise become reality: decades from now, or sooner?

The author of the Forbes article thinks that a space manufacturing sector is decades away, say........

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