A microwave-sized factory is quietly running hundreds of kilometres above Earth, heating a tiny furnace to 1,000°C and turning weightlessness into an industrial asset. Instead of treating orbit as a place to pass through on the way to the Moon or Mars, a new generation of companies is starting to use it as a production floor, with semiconductors as one of the first target products. I see this as the moment when space manufacturing shifts from science fiction to a testable business model, with real hardware, real heat and real materials in play.
A tiny furnace, a big milestone
The basic fact is stark: a microwave-sized facility in orbit has successfully ignited a furnace and pushed it to 1,000°C, hot enough to melt many metals and transform advanced materials. That temperature milestone matters because it proves that a compact, remotely operated system can survive and control extreme heat in the harsh environment of space, where vacuum, radiation and thermal swings all conspire against delicate hardware. Instead of a sprawling cleanroom on Earth, the factory is roughly the size of a kitchen appliance, yet it is already behaving like a miniature foundry.
According to detailed reporting on the mission, the company behind this orbital furnace is Space Forge, a British startup that has built what it calls a “space mini-factory” to test whether high value materials can be processed more cleanly and precisely in orbit than on the ground. The firm has confirmed that its facility, launched on a small satellite platform, has reached the 1,000°C mark in microgravity, with images of the furnace showing glowing plasma inside the chamber as it operates as a self-contained industrial unit in space, a feat described as a 1,000°C milestone in orbit by Space Forge.
From Cardiff to orbit: who is Space Forge?
Space Forge is not a household name, but it has quickly become one of the most closely watched players in the race to industrialise orbit. Based in Cardiff, Wales, the company has framed its mission around building reusable platforms that can leave Earth, process high value materials in microgravity and then return those products for use in terrestrial industries. That geographic detail matters, because it signals that the new space economy is no longer confined to Silicon Valley or traditional aerospace hubs, and that a team from Cardiff, Wales is now running a furnace in orbit.
Reporting on the company’s trajectory notes that Space Forge launched its first satellite earlier in the year on a rideshare mission, using a SpaceX Transporter flight as the ride to orbit for its ForgeStar hardware. The firm has described this first unit as a pathfinder, a small-scale factory designed to validate that a compact furnace can be powered up, controlled and cooled in space, and that it can be integrated into a satellite bus that survives launch and operates autonomously. One detailed account of the mission explains that Space Forge launched its first satellite on the SpaceX Transporter rideshare, while another notes that a team from Cardiff, Wales is using the platform to explore off-world semiconductor manufacturing that could be far purer than anything made on Earth, as described in a detailed analysis of the company’s work from Cardiff, Wales.
Why microgravity is a dream lab for semiconductors
The reason anyone is putting a 1,000°C furnace into orbit is not novelty, it is physics. In microgravity, convection behaves differently, buoyancy-driven flows vanish and materials do not settle under their own weight, which means atoms can arrange themselves in ways that are impossible on the ground. For semiconductors, where the alignment of atoms and the absence of defects can make or break performance, that environment is a kind of dream laboratory, one where crystal structures can grow in three dimensions without the constant tug and turbulence of gravity.
Technical reporting on the ForgeStar platform explains that the satellite is being used to generate plasma and process materials in a weightless environment so that atoms can align in a flawless 3D structure, a configuration that is extremely difficult to achieve in terrestrial fabs. One detailed account notes that space is the ultimate laboratory for semiconductors because microgravity allows atoms to be arranged into highly ordered structures without the interference of gravity, and that the ForgeStar-1 satellite is being used to test whether such structures can be produced reliably in orbit, as described in an in-depth look at this microwave-sized space factory. Other coverage has gone further, suggesting that semiconductors made in space could be up to 4,000 times purer than their earthly equivalents, which would translate into chips that run cooler, faster and more efficiently than anything current fabs can produce, a claim that underscores why companies are willing to experiment with orbital furnaces despite the cost and complexity.
Inside the microwave-sized factory
From the outside, the factory looks like a small satellite, but inside it is a tightly integrated system of power, thermal control, sensors and a compact furnace chamber. The furnace itself is designed to reach and hold 1,000°C while suspended in orbit, which requires careful insulation and heat rejection so that the rest of the spacecraft does not overheat. Engineers have to balance the need for intense, localized heat with the reality that in vacuum, there is no air to carry that heat away, so radiators and reflective surfaces do much of the work that fans and coolant loops handle on Earth.
Video released by the company shows the furnace glowing as plasma forms inside the chamber, a visual confirmation that the system is not only heating but also sustaining the kind of energetic environment needed to melt and reform materials. One broadcast segment on the mission highlights that the team has successfully turned on the factory furnace and heated it to 1,000, with images of the key moment captured as the unit operates several hundred kilometres above Earth, a detail that has been shared in a widely viewed 1,000 video. Another report describes how the microwave-sized facility, launched into orbit by Space Forge, has demonstrated that its furnace can ignite and maintain a 1,000°C plasma in microgravity, confirming that the hardware can handle both the thermal and electrical demands of such an operation, as outlined in coverage of the 1,000°C milestone in orbit by Tony Jolliffe.
What gets made in orbit does not stay in orbit
Running a furnace in space is only half the story, because the economic value of space manufacturing depends on getting finished products back to Earth in usable form. That is where another company, Varda, enters the picture, with a focus on building reentry capsules that can safely bring high value materials down through the atmosphere and land them on the ground. Instead of trying to manufacture bulk commodities, Varda has targeted pharmaceuticals and other compact, high margin products that can justify the cost of a dedicated return vehicle.
Varda has already demonstrated that this model is technically viable, flying a capsule that produced crystals of the antiretroviral drug ritonavir in orbit and then returning them to Earth for analysis. The company notes that its W-1 capsule was the first commercial spacecraft to land on a military test range, the first to land on United States soil and the first to return a commercial research payload of the antiretroviral drug ritonavir, a set of milestones that show how orbital manufacturing can be paired with precision reentry and recovery, as detailed in the mission summary for the W-1 capsule. A separate account of the mission describes how the Varda space capsule returned to Earth in the first commercial landing in the Australian outback, with images of the scorched vehicle resting on the desert floor and a note that readers could Share the story, Join the conversation, Follow the updates and Add the outlet as a preferred source on Google, a reminder that this was not a government test flight but a commercial operation documented in detail by Share. Varda’s broader corporate materials describe its mission as building the infrastructure for in-space manufacturing and reentry, positioning the company as a logistics backbone for any firm that wants to make things in orbit and sell them on Earth, as outlined on the main Varda site.
From ritonavir to chips: a new industrial ecosystem
When I look at Space Forge’s furnace and Varda’s capsules together, what emerges is the outline of a new industrial ecosystem that treats orbit as a production zone rather than a destination. On one side are companies like Space Forge, which are building compact factories that can exploit microgravity to grow crystals, refine alloys or process semiconductors with unprecedented purity. On the other side are firms like Varda, which are investing in the unglamorous but essential work of reentry, recovery and certification so that those products can be integrated into terrestrial supply chains without being treated as exotic curiosities.
The semiconductor angle is particularly striking, because the industry is already straining against the limits of conventional fabrication, with extreme ultraviolet lithography, multi-patterning and advanced packaging all pushing costs and complexity higher. If semiconductors made in space can indeed be up to 4,000 times purer than earthly equivalents, as one detailed analysis of the Cardiff, Wales team’s work suggests, then even a small volume of space-made wafers could find eager buyers in sectors like quantum computing, high frequency communications or advanced sensors, where defect density is a critical bottleneck, a point underscored in the report on semiconductors made in space from semiconductors made in space. Meanwhile, Varda’s work with ritonavir shows that pharmaceuticals can also benefit from microgravity, with more uniform crystals potentially improving drug stability or bioavailability, a synergy that hints at a future where orbit hosts a mix of chip fabs and drug labs, all feeding high value products back to Earth.
The UK’s quiet bet on orbital industry
Space Forge’s success is also a story about the United Kingdom’s evolving role in the space economy. For years, the UK has invested in satellite communications and small launch capabilities, but the image of a British-built, microwave-sized factory running a 1,000°C furnace in orbit signals a shift toward higher value, industrial applications. The fact that this work is being led from Cardiff, Wales, rather than London or a traditional aerospace cluster, suggests that the benefits of the space sector are starting to spread geographically, with regional hubs building their own expertise and supply chains.
One report on the mission notes that the company behind the tiny factory has previously worked with Elon Musk’s ventures and has now sent a small facility capable of operating several hundred kilometres above Earth, a detail that underlines how British firms are integrating into global launch and space infrastructure networks, as described in coverage of the British company that worked with Elon Musk and sent a tiny factory into orbit, which also mentions Tommy Lee Jones and his daughter Victoria in an unrelated news item that appeared alongside the space story, as seen in the report that references Tommy Lee Jones and Victoria from Tommy Lee Jones. Another detailed piece on the mission, written by Tony Jolliffe, highlights how the UK company has sent a factory with a 1,000°C furnace into space to make semiconductors, quoting Space Forge chief executive Joshua Western on the potential to build a new kind of industrial base in orbit, a narrative that positions the UK as an early mover in the race to commercialise microgravity manufacturing, as described in the report that credits Tony Jolliffe and Tony Jolliffe.
Risks, costs and the road to scale
For all the excitement around a 1,000°C furnace in orbit, the path from demonstration to industrial scale is steep. Launch costs, while lower than a decade ago, still impose a hard limit on how much hardware and raw material can be sent to space, and every kilogram of product that comes back down must survive the violence of reentry. There are also regulatory hurdles, from export controls on advanced materials to safety rules governing reentry vehicles that cross multiple national airspaces before landing, all of which add friction to what might otherwise look like a straightforward manufacturing play.
Technical challenges remain as well, particularly around automation and reliability. A microwave-sized factory cannot rely on human operators floating nearby to fix glitches, so every valve, sensor and line of code has to be robust enough to run for months without intervention. Space Forge’s ability to ignite and control a 1,000°C furnace in microgravity is a major step, but scaling that to a fleet of factories that can process tonnes of material will require new generations of hardware, more powerful power systems and more sophisticated thermal management. The company’s own materials and the detailed reporting on its ForgeStar-1 mission make clear that this is an early experiment rather than a full-scale fab, while Varda’s W-1 capsule, described in its mission summary and in the account of its landing in the Australian outback, shows that even a single reentry vehicle represents years of engineering and regulatory work, as outlined in the broader context of Varda’s plans on the main Varda site.
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