tems but has rebranded as its owners, Eren Ozmen and Fatih Ozmen, her husband, seek investment to expand the space business.
THE FUTURE OF CNC
A growing number of companies, including Made In Space, a company that’s owned by Redwire, are developing ways to produce materials or products that benefit from the microgravity environment of low-earth orbit. Sierra Space’s space station project is based on the company’s inflatable space habitat, which it calls LIFE, that expands in orbit to have a 300-cubic-meter interior. The habitat is modular and can be connected to others to create larger spaces for an orbiting space station.
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Colorado Company Inks Agreement For Manufacturing At Its Private Space Station A Colorado aerospace company planning to build a private space station has s i gn e d a n agreement with another growing company covering manufacturing in orbit. Louisville-based Sierra Space signed a memorandum of understanding with Jacksonville, Florida-based Redwire that envisions using Sierra Space’s planned commercial space station for inspace services and possible manufacturing.
NASA has called for commercial space stations to fill the void left by the International Space Station’s expected retirement around 2030. Sierra Space revealed that it intends to have at least one of its three-story, 27-foot-diameter inflatable habitats in low-earth orbit and have a space station operating by as soon as 2028.The company was formerly known as Sierra Nevada Corp. Space SysA2Z Manufacturing Rocky Mountain •
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The station will feature docking ports for the company’s Dream Chaser self-flying space plane it’s developing to carry cargo to the International Space Station on missions starting next year. A version of Dream Chaser in development will be able to fly with astronauts on board. The company, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corp., a privately held aerospace and defense contractor, says it has multiple agreements about the potential use of space station workspace for research, development and manufacturing. Sierra space is also willing to arrange to have other companies’ modules dock at the Sierra Space station and use its power, communications, environmental controls and transportation. There’s a lot of interest in such arrangements now. “The companies and countries that master microgravity R&D and manufacturing will be the economic leaders of tomorrow,” said Redwire’s Mike Gold, who last month left a NASA associate administrator’s position to become the company’s executive vice president of civil space business development and external affairs. “By utilizing expandable habitat technology Sierra Space is offering a robust capability that will bolster and accelerate the substantial technological benefits of in-space manufacturing that Redwire Space is leading.” Redwire formed last year with backing from AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm, with a strategy of acquiring complementary space businesses that could benefit from being part of a larger organization able to attract work the businesses wouldn’t have been able to alone. It bought three growing Denver-area space businesses, Deep Space Systems, which makes devices and gadgets used in space missions; Roccor, which makes solar arrays and antennas for spacecraft; and Oakman Aerospace, a digital design company specializing in space systems.
