Transporter 8 launch from the Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 12 June 2023. Picture: SpaceX
In a remarkable feat of space technology, SpaceX successfully delivered the world’s first ‘space factory’ into orbit – a payload consisting of 72 small satellites.
As part of SpaceX’s eighth dedicated small sat rideshare programme – the Transporter-8 mission – this payload was sent into orbit aboard the Falcon 9 rocket on 12 June.
It was the ninth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 stage booster, which previously supported the launch of the NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT rideshares, along with four Starlink missions.
Included among the 72 spacecraft were CubeSats, MicroSats, a re-entry capsule, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time.
The first stage of the Transporter-8 mission will include tests to ensure all systems are functioning properly.
But once that is done, the real fun starts.
The next phase will involve heating and cooling the HIV-Aids drug ritonavir repeatedly to study its microgravity crystallisation.
The factory will remain in space for about a month before returning to earth, where it will touch down at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range.
The focus of this space factory (and others in the near future) will be pharmaceuticals. Eventually, these factories could serve as manufacturing facilities and hypersonic testbeds.
READ: Exciting times for SA space industry – Why the MDASat constellation matters
Varda Space Industries announced its plans to launch the world’s first-ever space factory back in 2021, describing it as an autonomous facility designed to produce pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and fibre optic cables under microgravity conditions.
Varda – led by CEO Will Bruey, a former SpaceX veteran – aims to tap into the potential of microgravity manufacturing.
But that will have to wait six or seven years while the pharmaceutical phase runs its course.
