Monday, January 12, 2026

Space Forge Achieves Breakthrough In Orbit With First Plasma Production

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In a groundbreaking achievement, Space Forge, a pioneering in-orbit manufacturing start-up, has successfully produced its first plasma in orbit aboard the ForgeStar-1 satellite. This remarkable feat marks a significant milestone toward the company's ambitious vision of manufacturing novel semiconductors in space, a development that could revolutionize future electronic technologies.

According to Joshua Western, CEO and co-founder of 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, a source for this article, reports that SpaceForge, founded in 2018, plans to utilize a similar furnace on a future satellite to manufacture a batch of novel semiconductors directly in the weightless environment of space.

Notably, such experiments have previously only been conducted aboard the International Space Station. 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.

This achievement establishes ForgeStar-1 as the first free-flying commercial semiconductor manufacturing tool ever operated in space, as reported by Space, a source for this article.

In-orbit manufacturing start-up Space Forge has produced its first plasma in orbit aboard the ForgeStar-1 satellite.
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