Space Forge Ignites New Era of Orbital Semiconductor Manufacturing

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Space Forge has successfully generated plasma aboard its ForgeStar®-1 satellite, marking a world-first for commercial in-space manufacturing and a significant step toward producing a new class of high-performance semiconductor materials on orbit.

The achievement establishes ForgeStar-1 as the first free-flying commercial semiconductor manufacturing tool ever operated in space, and follows Space Forge’s earlier mission milestone as the first and only organisation in the UK and Europe licensed to conduct in-space manufacturing.

The plasma demonstration confirms that the extreme conditions needed for gas-phase crystal growth - a core building block of semiconductor production - can now be created and controlled on an autonomous platform in low Earth orbit (LEO). This is the first time a commercial spacecraft has demonstrated this capability - building on science carried out on board  the International Space Station.

Joshua Western, CEO and Co-founder, Space Forge: “Generating plasma on orbit represents a fundamental shift, it proves that the essential environment for advanced crystal growth can be achieved on a dedicated, commercial satellite - opening the door to a completely new manufacturing frontier.”

Space Forge’s focus is on wide- and ultra-wide bandgap materials such as gallium nitride, silicon carbide, aluminium nitride and diamond. These materials underpin critical technologies including power electronics, advanced communications, quantum systems, defence platforms and high-performance computing. On Earth, their development is constrained by defect formation, impurity incorporation and thermal instability during growth.

Space offers a different pathway: the absence of convection in microgravity, the ultra-high quality vacuum with near-zero nitrogen contamination and the stable thermal conditions can enable semiconductor crystals several orders of magnitude cleaner than those produced terrestrially.

ForgeStar-1’s plasma strike is the first step in testing how those advantages translate into real materials performance. The satellite will run a series of parameter sweeps to map plasma behaviour in microgravity and collect data that will directly inform the design and operation of future missions.

As the spacecraft begins its natural orbital decay, its trajectory will be monitored using onboard systems and external support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council, with the mission concluding in a controlled demise. This deliberate, controlled end-of-life scenario is a world-first test of safe satellite demise - and a foundational step toward a future of reusable, returnable missions.

The company’s long-term vision is to unite orbital crystal growth with terrestrial processing. Space-grown seeds will be returned to Earth and scaled at the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials (CISM), creating a hybrid manufacturing model that complements existing supply chains rather than replacing them. The aim is to produce materials of a quality not achievable on Earth - materials that could improve efficiency, performance and resilience across industries central to economic and technological progress.