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Space Forge is a British aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Cardiff, Wales. Its focus is to develop reusable on-orbit fabrication capabilities to enable the novel production of semiconductors and alloys in microgravity.
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Space Forge | |
| Industry | Space industry |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Founders | Joshua Western and Andrew Bacon |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | ForgeStar |
Number of employees | 70 (2024) |
| Website | spaceforge.co.uk |
Space Forge was founded in 2018 by Joshua Western and Andrew Bacon, whilst they were working at Thales Alenia Space. In its early stages, the company started in a garage in Bristol, England, before going on to leverage the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult (CSAC) in Newport, Wales.[1][2]
In early 2020, Space Forge secured a total of £600,000 including: £100,000 from Innovate UK; £150,000 from 12 members of the Bristol Private Equity Club and additional funds by the Development Bank of Wales.[3][1] The company secured an additional £329,326 of funding from the UK government to support space manufacturing in partnership with CSAC and Clyde Space.[4][5] The Development Bank of Wales announced in July 2021 that Space Forge had raised an undisclosed amount as part of a seed funding round led by Type One Ventures and Space Fund.[6] Tarek Waked of Type One Ventures, who later joined the board of Space Forge, described this as "the largest seed round for an in-space manufacturing company to date".[7] Investors included George T. Whitesides (former Chief Space Officer and CEO of Virgin Galactic[8]) and Dylan Taylor (chairman and CEO of Voyager Space Holdings[8]). The Bristol Private Equity Club increased the groups stake, with 26 members investing a total of £500,000.[9] By this point Space Forge had 15 employees.[9] It was later revealed that Space Forge had raised £7.6 million of initial seed capital.[10]
By September 2021, Space Forge had moved its manufacturing base to Cardiff.[11] In September 2021, Space Forge secured a €2 million contract from the European Space Agency for a commercial space transportation service as part of ESA's Boost! program. Space Forge intends to leverage its ForgeStar platform in the delivery of the contract and is working as part of a consortium including Clyde Space, Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, CSAC, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.[11][12] By July 2022, the company had 40 full-time staff based in Cardiff.[13]
In July 2024, the NATO Innovation Fund announced its support for Space Forge and 3 other startups.[14]
Space Forge built the first satellite manufacturing facility in Wales, including a clean room and support for payload integration.[15] The facility in Rumney, Cardiff, is 7,500 square feet (700 m2) in size and was previously used in the manufacture of burger vans.[13]
ForgeStar is an on-orbit manufacturing satellite platform leveraging microgravity in the production of semi-conductors and pharmaceuticals.[16] Each vehicle will consist of an orbital module and a microgravity capsule, operating at an altitude of 300 miles (480 km) for a period of one to six months.[10][16] The company aims for each satellite to be able to return from space, enable its refurbishment, and then for it to be returned to service on-orbit.[16]
ForgeStar-0 was to be the first Welsh-built satellite and was launched by Virgin Orbit on its inaugural mission from Newquay Airport (Spaceport Cornwall), on the first ever satellite launch from the United Kingdom.[13][17] This first satellite was not designed to survive reentry but was to act as a prototype to validate on-orbit manufacturing capabilities, testing the deployment of a low cost return technology.[18] As part of this first mission, the company was to work in partnership with US based Cosmic Shielding, to test the survivability of a new composite radiation shield material known as "Plasteel".[18] Monitoring of the material was to be provided by on board cameras.[18] As ForgeStar-0 would return from orbit, Lumi Space was planned to trial laser tracking technology to monitor the satellite's descent through the atmosphere.[19]
ForgeStar-0 launched on 9 January 2023 from Spaceport Cornwall. The launching rocket was the LauncherOne of Virgin Orbit. The launch ended in failure and ForgeStar-0 did not achieve orbit.[20]
ForgeStar-1 will be four times larger than ForgeStar-0 and will be the first of Space Forge's satellites to be designed for reentry, returning from orbit to Earth off the coast of the United Kingdom. It is hoped ForgeStar-1 will launch in 2023.[2][13]
ForgeStar-2 will be larger still, and will aim to produce materials with a value exceeding the cost of the launch.[2] The company hopes to maintain a cadence of 10–12 flights a year.[2]
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