Made in space: new production frontiers

With the recent success of the Rosetta and New Horizons missions, along with Tim Peake’s adventure on the ISS, space exploration seems to have regained a foothold in the public consciousness. Last month, The Engineer reported on NASA’s Orion programme, the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle that should herald a new era of manned space flight, with Mars the ultimate goal. Mars now seems tantalisingly within reach, and both ESA and NASA predict that humanity’s first steps on another planet will happen some time in the 2030s.

But while the technology to get there is reasonably well established, surviving on the red planet for any length of time will be a major challenge. Creating a long-term presence on the Moon or Mars will mean making use of indigenous resources, using native soil and rock to build structures and habitations. To do this, the challenges of manufacturing beyond our own planet will need to be met.