| Scope |
With the upcoming transition to one or more commercially driven space stations to replace the International Space Station, the push for Lunar and Mars colonization, the recently launched NASA-DOE program to develop Lunar surface reactor by 2030, and many other initiatives, there is a need for a forum at TMS to address some key materials and manufacturing aspects of the space economy. There is increasing interest in creating new materials in the radiation/microgravity environment of low-earth orbit with properties that cannot be produced on Earth. Also, in low-earth orbit, there is a need to repair and repurpose existing assets and build structures that are too big to be launched, such as massive solar arrays, requiring the transformation of traditional materials processing and manufacturing methods so they can be used to build complex systems in microgravity or other celestial bodies.
This symposium will be a global discussion of: a) the synthesis and characterization of new materials created in low-earth orbit, with potential commercial products ranging from pharmaceuticals to semiconductors, b) The effects of the space environment (vacuum, atomic oxygen, radiation, extreme temperatures) on structural and functional materials, and c) an assessment of the current state and future need for transforming traditional manufacturing technologies so they can be used in space.
Session Topics:
1) Commercial Space – challenges and opportunities
2) Advanced materials synthesis in low-earth orbit, the moon, and Mars.
3) Space environment effects on materials
3) Autonomous/robotic manufacturing for space applications
4) Manufacturing processes (welding, forming, additive, and others) in space
5) Building large structures in space
7) Workforce development for commercial material/manufacturing in space
8) Biological Applications |