session 8

Title

In-Space Manufacturing and Production Applications

type

oral

Description

In-Space Manufacturing and Production Applications leverage microgravity, vacuum, and orbital environments to unlock pathways in biomedicine, advanced materials, and autonomous production that are impractical on Earth. This session convenes practitioners advancing: bioprocessing (cell and tissue expansion, organoid and disease models, protein crystallization, biologics and nucleic-acid manufacturing); materials (defect-suppressed alloys, ultra-low-loss optical fibers, semiconductor epitaxy, glass/ceramic processing); and production architectures (additive and hybrid manufacturing, in-space assembly, robotic autonomy, digital twins, in-process metrology, and closed-loop resource use). Emphasis is placed on flight-demonstrated results, scaling from parabolic and ISS/pathfinder missions to commercial platforms, and on standards, certification, biosafety, and traceability needed for quality and repeatability. The session aims to share methods, lessons learned, and roadmaps that reduce risk and cost, enable interoperability across platforms, and build resilient supply chains. By integrating biology, materials science, automation, and operations, the community will translate microgravity advantages into reliable production capabilities that accelerate exploration and deliver high-value products for terrestrial markets.

IPC members

• Co-Chair: Dr. Fathi Karouia, NASA Ames Research Center, Blue Marble Space Institute Of Science; BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado Boulder, United States;

• Co-Chair: Prof. David Estrada, Boise State University (BSU), United States;

• Rapporteur: Dr. Albert Houcine TOUATI, Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA), France;