Manufacturing in Space :: science space manufacturing

Mans capability to leave the Earth offers mevery an(prenominal) new prospects for the future. Asteroid mining, build launch facilities on the moon, tourism, and outer space manufacturing are only some(a) of the many opportunities that are being considered.There are many considerations which must be examined . For example, in the case of manufacturing in space, economic factors include can it be done on Earth ? If so, which offers a most cost efficient venue? environmental factors include both contamination of the plant and whatsoever pollutants may be generated in the manufacturing process. Let us examine some of the advantages and disadvantages of this enterprise.AdvantagesWhy manufacture in space? Space offers many preposterous conditions which alter the properties of materials manufactured. The two major conditions are deprivation of gravity and lack of contaminationMicrogravityGravity ca recitations properties familiar to alone of us. One of which is the separati on of fluids fit in to density. With the removal of gravity, alloys and mixtures of materials with properties incompatible here on Earth can be made, resulting in alloys or mixtures which have completely different properties than those found on earth. Other processes which benefit from a lack of gravity include welding, crystal growth, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, non linear optic and photonic materials.ContaminationSpace is a sterile environment. spiritualist production such as semi conductors and biotech would benefit from not having to use expensive equipment to filter out harmful dust which is so dominant on the Earth.DisadvantagesThe major disadvantage to manufacturing in space is cost. Currently all space bound vehicles are government owned. Fee structures for sending materials into space are exorbitant and delivery service is both uncertain and infrequent. It cost approximately $20,000.00 per pound to send materials into space currently. Although NASAs goal is to get the cost down to $100.00 per pound it is not likely that this will happen any time soon.Scheduling also remains a problem. The current move fleet flies about 7 missions per year compared to a goal of once per week.