In-space manufacturing will form a huge part of the future of space exploitation. It will massively reduce the cost of launching otherwise fully built structures to orbit and beyond.
ThinkOrbital is a private space sector startup. On its website, the mission statement says “To accelerate the accessibility and commercialization of cislunar space through cost-effective, pressurizable, scalable and multi-purpose infrastructure.”
ThinkOrbital is working on an orbital platform that could eventually be used to manufacture products in space. It also wants to find solutions to the growing space debris problem.
One of ThinkOrbital’s cofounders claims that it could be compatible with SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship rocket which could eventually take humans to Mars.
ThinkOrbital submitted its design as a proposal for a NASA bid for new space station concepts last year. It lost in the bidding for that project. NASA awarded four hundred and sixteen million dollars to Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman. ThinkOrbital was not discouraged when it lost the NASA contract bidding contest. It has refined its concept since it lost.
The startup’s platform is called ThinkPlatform. It is envisioned as a non-pressurized, free-flying module that could dock with a space station or spacecraft, such as SpaceX’s Starship. Even thought it lost in the bid for a lucrative NASA contract, ThinkOrbital did recently secure two research contracts worth two hundred and sixty thousand dollars under the U.S. Space Force Orbital Prime’s program for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing.
Lee Rosen is cofounder and president of ThinkOrbital. He said, “This platform can be for manufacturing, human habitation, military applications, and whatnot. And the good news is we don’t have to bend any physics to make it happen. In-space electron beam welding was demonstrated by the Soviets in the 80s, so we know it works.”
The ThinkPlatform would be assembled in space using robotic arm technology. Rosen pointed out that this technology already exists. However, it would need to be upgraded so it could autonomously build the platform in space. He added that “We want to do an inflight demo so we have the data ourselves. But we’re confident that it works.”
If the ThinkOrbial’s ThinkPlatform is ever launched into orbit, it could be used to manufacture high-speed computer chips, pharmaceutical products, and fiber optics for the public and private sectors. The platform could also deploy small satellites to collect space junk. The collected space junk would either be recycled with solar panels and aluminum to make fuel being recovered. Or the debris could be deorbited so that it burns up in the atmosphere. Rosen said, "We could process debris at that hub, for example, and turn aluminum into an aluminum powder that could be used for spacecraft fuel.
The International Space Station (ISS) is set to deorbit around 2030. NASA is looking to the private space sector to build the next generation of orbital stations. Though ThinkOrbital has not yet managed to obtain a NASA contract, it forms an important part of the private space sector that is constantly innovating and bring new solutions to orbit.