University of Texas at Dallas Team Report:
In-Space Manufacturing in 2050

Welcome to Bennu, the solar system’s first asteroid mining facility! Completed in 2042, the Bennu facility was decades in the making. The foundations were first laid in 2018, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration landed its first probe on the little asteroid known as Bennu. Despite its seemingly modest size, rest assured it has much more potential than meets the eye. At the dawn of the Second Space Age, when NASA was spending almost all of its time looking to the Moon and Mars, and the billionaires of the day were investing in space tourism, we at Waypoint Industries looked to Bennu. In 2028, ten years after the first probe touched down, we sent up our own technology to survey the asteroid. The rest is history; unmanned rovers began small mining operations, which turned into not-so-small operations over the next ten years. In 2037, when Bennu made its first close approach since the missions began, we finally teamed up with the American sector of the Lunar Outpost and sent up a manned mission. Within the next five years, we had completed the carved-out facility. Today, we are running at full capacity. Read More

Purdue University Team Report:
ISM in 2050

In the year 2050, the lunar economy is not self-sufficient; it requires support from Earth for supplementary food, water, oxygen, and general commodities. It is, however, profitable in some industries, including ZBLAN, optics, and mining. Additionally, many industries have been created on the Moon to sustain colonization, including Algae farming/printing, 3D printing of regolith, and autonomous cargo transportation. The Moon has become a hub for many space-based operations, such as satellite repair, and acts as a springboard to expand into the rest of the solar system.

In space, manufacturing has progressed leaps and bounds over the past few decades, some companies developing priceless commodities and others failing to hit the mark, leading to collapse. SpaceX, Blue Origin, Telestra, Telesat, Redwire, and many others continue to pave the way for the space manufacturing field. Nations’ respective space agencies are still working with these companies to allow for further development in hopes of making ISM sustainable. Read More