How SpaceX's Starfall Can Unlock Microgravity Manufacturing
Elon Musk's SpaceX has tested Starfall, a new capsule which could support manufacturing in space.
It was launched to low-Earth orbit on 23 June at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and SpaceX confirmed the capsule was successfully deployed around three hours later.
The environment of space could allow for near-flawless materials and highly complex products to be produced without the constraints of gravity.
This has potential for manufacturing semiconductors, higher-purity fibre optics, more uniform crystal structures in pharmaceuticals and even 3D printing human tissue.
Watch Falcon 9 launch the Starfall Demo mission to orbit from Florida https://t.co/cxgrchwMco
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 23, 2026
What is Starfall?
The Starfall capsule a 0.75 metre tall and 3.1 metre wide disk, according to Federal Aviation Administration documents published in May.
The documents say the capsule is not for human spaceflight and explain that it is intended to "create a self-sustaining commercial in-space manufacturing market by offering access to microgravity and vacuum, loiter on orbit and safe return from orbit as a service at scale".
It is also intended to enable point-to-point delivery of cargo through space.
Starship, SpaceX's most powerful rocket, can carry multiple capsules to orbit at once.
Manufacturing in space so far
Space manufacturing experiments have been conducted since 1969 when Russian cosmonauts performed welding experiments.
NASA launched Skylab in 1973 which hosted three astronaut crews and was equipped with a materials processing facility that included a crystal growth chamber.
In 1982 Johnson & Johnson conducted pharmaceutical processing aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Since the International Space Station's first module was launched in 1998, crews have been continuously in space conducting experiments.
The first 3D printer, developed by NASA and Made In Space, arrived at the ISS in September 2014 and created its first object, a plastic faceplate, in November.
The European Space Agency's metal 3D printer, which can manufacture load-bearing structural parts, arrived in January 2024.
Built by Airbus and its partners, this machine is housed in a sealed box to maintain the right atmosphere.
The benefits of microgravity manufacturing
Microgravity in low-Earth orbit can allow for control of convection and stop sedimentation.
Larger, higher-quality crystals can be grown in solution and surface tension causes liquids to form perfectly round spheres.
The vacuum of space can also allow for very pure materials and objects to be created.
Sunlight outside of the atmosphere can be focussed to concentrate heat and shade can provide extremely cold temperatures.
These qualities make space an ideal environment for manufacturing technologies, like semiconductors and fibre optics, that could perform better than those made on Earth.
