Inside the Institutes: University of Illinois Researchers Explore Space-based Manufacturing
A space manufacturing project called Mission Illinois will send a specialized construction apparatus to the International Space Station to demonstrate space-based manufacturing. It is backed by four and a half years of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-funded research in space materials, manufacturing and structural design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
“The goal of this project is to test an energy-efficient chemical process that transforms a liquid material into a solid material — known as curing — to enable on-orbit manufacturing and construction of large space structures such as new space telescopes, radio frequency antennas and other sensors with high-dimensional and mechanical precision and mass efficiency over massive sizes, some more than 300 meters in diameter,” said mechanical science and engineering professor Sameh Tawfick, who is leading the project. “We manufacture carbon fiber composite tubes that can then be assembled into space trusses on-demand, rapidly and with minimal energy use.”
Image: Illustration courtesy Sameh Tawfick.
