A. Badesha, C. Nielsen, D. Stevens
Orbital Composites,
United States
Keywords: in-space manufacturing, quantum antennas, space-based cellular broadband, space-based solar power, space domain awareness
Summary:
Orbital Composites (Orbital) is developing Robotic Gigafactories on earth and in space. The Orbital Factories (AM in ISAM) with autonomous off-earth manufacturing, enables >100X cost-reduction to build large, precise, and resilient space infrastructure that is either impossible due to launch constraints or prohibitively expensive. An exemplary use case is large antennas for earth observation, space domain awareness and lunar/martian settlements. Orbital has developed 3D printable quantum field antennas that can be printed on-orbit and scalable to >100m in size. The novel antenna design also allows stealth communications through quantum cryptography. Autonomous manufacturing of composites applies terrestrially to advance propulsion, hypersonic and stealth aircraft technologies. The ability to manufacture and assemble large antennas in space opens up the possibility for two massive global scale markets: Space-Based Cellular Broadband, and Space-Based Solar Power. The AM in ISAM is pivotal to make that future a reality.