Technology Scotland recently caught up with our member, Space Forge, for our Member Spotlight series. We find out who Space Forge are, what they do, and much more! Take a look below and get to know them.
What does your organisation do?
We are one of the first companies to seriously look at the concept of in-space manufacturing. We started in earnest in 2020 and have grown to around 70 people since then. As has the proto-industry we’ve help pioneer – there are now several companies globally trying to follow our lead.
Our focus is on making the most of what low-earth orbit can do best, but in a way that is commercially viable and realistic.
Crystals grow better in space – there is 50 years’ worth of data to support that. Our focus is to exploit that to grow very high quality single crystal seed wafers of advanced wide bandgap semiconductor materials such as Diamond, GaN and AlN in space, bring them back and then use the seeds to scale up as wafer stock that is of a much higher quality than can be achieved purely terrestrially.
So we’re 2 things – a normal semiconductor supplier of engineered substrates, but with a highly advanced, returnable, reusable in-space satellite and payload capability that boosts the quality of the materials we produce.
What is your organisation’s biggest achievement?
Ask us again in a couple of months! We have an upcoming mission launch from the US which will be a pilot demonstration of our capability to fire up and run a semiconductor growth tool in orbit. The satellite and payload is built, on a rocket and ready to go.
We’ve already developed a significant engineering capability and profile in the Space Sector, but another big achievement is that the semiconductor industry is now starting to get what we do, and see us also as a regular manufacturer. We’re currently beginning a pilot and incubation capability in Swansea, both in terms of our payload tool development and our ability to simply be a credible terrestrial grower of material.
Tell us something exciting about your organisation
We’ve just formally announced a completed $30m Series A round, led by World Fund and the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF). We’ve gone through very significant scrutiny of our business plan and approach.
In these uncertain times, there is a much greater focus now on sovereign supply chain capability in both semiconductors and space and attracting a lot of support to help make that happen.
Why did you join Technology Scotland?
Photonics, power electronics and quantum are the main applications areas for the engineered substrates that we make. The Scottish super-cluster is easily the most vibrant and significant ecosystem in the UK, with lots of opportunities for growth, and it’s important that we play our part in that.
The events that Technology Scotland run and the network it has built are extremely relevant to us, and we’re delighted to be a part of it!