
In-Space Manufacturing Is About to Get a Big Test (2017) - zeristor
https://www.space.com/39039-made-in-space-off-earth-manufacturing-test.html
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cfontes
This is a really interesting first use case for it.

For those that are interested in the price, this link is interesting.

"One kilogram of exotic glass feedstock can be expected to produce from 3 to 7
kilometers of fibers in under an hour in microgravity, under optimized
conditions. At a nominal cost of $88K/kg, the launch costs for the preform and
spool (estimated to be 2 kg) combined with the landed costs for the filled
spools would be approximately $176,000.

The current low-end market price for ZBLAN fibers is $150/meter. Therefore,
even at today’s lowest market prices, a kilogram of ZBLAN launched to space
could be sold on Earth for between $450,000 and $1,050,000.

However, the real value of microgravity will be in producing ZBLAN and other
exotic fibers of exceptional quality. Today, these custom fibers are sold
between $300/meter and $3,000/meter. At current market prices, a preform
launched to a fiber manufacturing facility in orbit could yield from
$900,000/kg to $21,000,000/kg."

[https://sites.google.com/site/cmapproject/case-
studies/exoti...](https://sites.google.com/site/cmapproject/case-
studies/exotic-glasses-and-fibers)

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LeifCarrotson
> This microgravity-produced fiber has numerous applications, including trans-
> Atlantic telecommunications

That didn't seem feasible - my first guess was that you couldn't possibly use
something that you need to bring to space to cross the Atlantic. My gut was
that the math would put it somewhere above the economic output of the planet.
But when I stopped guessing to actually do the math, that 5,000 km multiplied
by $300/meter is 'just' $15B. Still just one fiber, and still a lot more than
the $300M that a traditional cable costs, but it could be done.

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simonh
I can’t find any reference to ZBLAN being used for long distance
telecommunications, it’s seems like it’s both too expensive, and it’s
exceptional properties (excellent infrared transmittance) aren’t particularly
relevant to that application. Why particularly specify trans-Atlantic though?
Looks like somebody in marketing getting a bit ahead of themselves.

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wrigby
I'm not up to speed on ZBLAN at all (had to google what it is just now), but
if it can really do 0.05dB/km at 1550nm [1], then it seems like it's actually
ideally suited for long distance telecom. This is like taking an off-the-shelf
"80km" SFP, and turning it into an "800km" SFP. Am I missing something?

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZBLAN#/media/File:Zblan_transm...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZBLAN#/media/File:Zblan_transmit.jpg)

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hinkley
I guess in microgravity all bets are off, but the box they show doesn't match
my mental model for "how they make fiber". I'm thinking of these videos I've
seen of 2-3 story tall fiber optic manufacturing machines where they drop the
molten glass a dozen feet down the middle before touching it.

Somehow I'm more impressed by the fact that they can pull optically clear
fiber in a box the size of a rackmount case than that they will do it in
orbit.

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lawlessone
>where they drop the molten glass a dozen feet down the middle before touching
it.

I guess in orbit it's constantly falling.

~~~
simonh
That doesn’t really help when what you’re trying to do is stretch the
material.

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Harvey-Specter
So this thing was launched in December, and news on whether or not it was
successful?

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duggan
Looks like they're still waiting on the results[1].

[1]:
[https://twitter.com/MadeInSpace/status/958730115353137152](https://twitter.com/MadeInSpace/status/958730115353137152)

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VikingCoder
I don't mean to spoil it, but something exactly like this is mentioned in
"Artemis," by Andy Weir, author of "The Martian."

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mhb_eng
NASA has also done some reseach into ZBLan fabrication on earth using magnetic
fields to eliminate crystal formation
([https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/201200...](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20120016709.pdf)).
This seems to be an expensive effort to duplicate the same effect.

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techdragon
If you go through the paper, it’s clear that the microgravity work is proven
but the magnetic field work is still under development.

Also the pictures of the fibres are interesting, it’s hard to be sure but my
mk1 eyeball estimate is that the magnetic process fibre looks slightly
inferior in terms of even surface consistency. Which is a very subjective
measurement but if they were of identical quality I would hope the paper
author would do a better job of highlighting that fact.

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mrfusion
So this already happemed? What were the results?

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vadimberman
Whatever happens, kudos to Made In Space! These guys have tenacity.

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realPubkey
That website is so broken on mobile. Every 2 seconds something else loads an
moves the text away from its current scrollposition.

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xupybd
Why are they trying to say 2.2lb is 4kg? That's really odd I think they
converted the wrong way around?

