Manufacturing and Materials
Advanced manufacturing technologies for both terrestrial and in-space purposes will make commercial and exploration missions more efficient and affordable. We’re developing new materials with improved or combined properties, learning how to build infrastructure and innovating on manufacturing processes.
Quick Facts
NASA is producing spacecraft and mission hardware designed by AI. They may resemble bones left by some alien species, but they weigh less, tolerate higher structural loads, and require a fraction of the time to develop.
Following its launch in 2022, two NASA-supported optical fiber manufacturing payloads arrived at the International Space. The innovations will be used to demonstrate automated production of high-quality optical fibers in microgravity for use on Earth.
NASA is developing new deployable structures and materials technologies for solar sail propulsion systems destined for future low-cost deep space missions. Just as a sailboat is powered by wind in a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, eliminating the need for conventional rocket propellant.
Mission and Impact
NASA seeks to improve our ability to access and travel through space; land more mass in more locations throughout the solar system; live and work in deep space and on planetary bodies; build next generation air vehicles, and transform the ability to observe the universe and answer profound questions in earth and space sciences.
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