The UK Space Agency has awarded contracts to three UK companies to investigate producing these advanced materials in Low Earth Orbit, where the conditions – including microgravity, natural vacuum, and extreme temperatures – can create products that are difficult, expensive, or impossible to manufacture on Earth.

The research supports in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), which the government identifies as a priority capability area for UK leadership, growth, and national security.

Each study will assess technical feasibility, mature key technologies, and develop credible routes to market.

The three contracts are:

BioOrbit Ltd (£250,000) – The ‘PHARM’ study will design an end-to-end mission to manufacture drugs in microgravity. Microgravity enables the formation of more perfect, reproducible protein crystals for drug formulations that cannot be achieved on Earth, enabling cancer treatments to be given at home. BioOrbit is working with relevant regulatory bodies to ensure that this mission can be readily commercialised.

Space Forge Ltd (£300,000) – The ‘2Forge2Furious’ study will demonstrate how semiconductor seed crystals could be produced commercially in orbit, with the aim of improving the efficiency, reliability and power density of high-power electronic devices, including telecommunications, data centre infrastructure, EV charging and quantum computing.

OrbiSky Ltd (£295,000) – The ‘SkyYield’ study will design a payload to process ZBLAN fluoride glass in microgravity. ZBLAN is a specialist optical fibre that can transmit light with up to 100 times less signal loss than traditional silica fibre, with significant potential for telecommunications and medical imaging.