It's pretty well known that there is a lot of debris in space. What if some of that debris could be recycled in space to create new materials which could be used for other purposes? Cislunar industries is working to create methods to recycle and repurpose metals in space.
On this edition of the Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Joe Pawelski, the co-founder and CTO of Cislunar Industries. In April of last year, the company was awarded a patent for its Space Foundry for in-space metal processing and contactless manipulation. The Modular Space Foundry technology takes recovered space debris and reprocesses it into standardized metal feedstock in the form of rod, wire filament, and other useful geometries, as well as propellant. In May, ThinkOrbital successfully operated an electron-beam welding system in space. CisLunar Industries developed the system that powered the operation, a 20kV power supply that boasts industry-leading size, weight, and power (SWaP).
"In space, the name of the game is we don't want to create more particles, or we don't want to create more debris. I mean that's the whole idea ... we're trying to prevent debris. So manufacturing processes that don't make debris and that aren't very invasive are really interesting to us."
Cislunar Industries believes that a dynamic and robust industrial in-space economy is essential to this future, and envisions a future where humanity is enabled and empowered to expand beyond Earth to permanently and sustainably settle the Solar System.