{"id":19218,"date":"2016-10-07T23:23:49","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T15:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/tethers-unlimiteds-firmamentum-strikes-deal-to-demonstrate-orbital-manufacturing\/"},"modified":"2016-10-07T23:23:49","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T15:23:49","slug":"tethers-unlimiteds-firmamentum-strikes-deal-to-demonstrate-orbital-manufacturing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/tethers-unlimiteds-firmamentum-strikes-deal-to-demonstrate-orbital-manufacturing\/","title":{"rendered":"Tethers Unlimited\u2019s Firmamentum strikes deal to demonstrate orbital manufacturing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_280537\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-280537\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-280537\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/161007-trusselator-tethers-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"In-space construction\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/161007-trusselator-tethers-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/161007-trusselator-tethers.jpg 632w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-280537\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows a future satellite building scaffolding from carbon-fiber composites. (Credit: Tethers Unlimited)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A division of Tethers Unlimited Inc., a space technology company based in Bothell, Wash., says it has signed a contract with a big-name spacecraft provider to demonstrate how future satellites could build their own frameworks in space.<\/p>\n<p>The deal calls for Tethers Unlimited\u2019s business division, known as Firmamentum, to fly its manufacturing hardware on a telecommunications satellite as part of Space Systems Loral\u2019s Dragonfly program. Space Systems Loral is one of the world\u2019s leading builders of satellites and spacecraft systems.<\/p>\n<p>Firmamentum is working on a technology known as the \u201cTrusselator,\u201d which is designed to fabricate large, lightweight truss structures out of carbon-fiber composites. Such structures could help support antennas, sensors, solar arrays and other components.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Trusselator Demo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3pYWuypTBOc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The benefit is that the structures could be built to the required specifications in space, rather than having to be launched as payload in their finished shape.<\/p>\n<p>Dragonfly is being funded by NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate as part of the space agency\u2019s Tipping Point initiative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dragonfly program is a tremendous opportunity for us to demonstrate the readiness of in-space manufacturing technologies to enable transformative improvements in the performance of communications satellites, and we are very thankful that SSL has selected us to team with in this endeavor,\u201d Rob Hoyt,&nbsp;<span class=\"il\">Firmamentum<\/span>\u2019s CEO, said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>Firmamentum didn\u2019t provide specifics about the value of the contract or the time frame for the in-space demonstration. However, Space Systems Loral\u2019s executive vice president of engineering and operations, Paul Estey, told Satellite Today in July that the project was part of the company\u2019s long-term vision for satellite platforms.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A3bfi4Cq_YI<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is in the early stages \u2014 not something that will happen in the next five years, likely, but it is a very exciting area of engineering endeavor for us,\u201d Estey said.<\/p>\n<p>Firmamentum is also working with Space Systems Loral as well as NanoRacks and Vulcan Aerospace on an on-orbit construction project for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a.k.a. DARPA.<\/p>\n<p>Tethers Unlimited and its Firmamentum division are developing&nbsp;a long list of technologies for NASA and other government entities, ranging from small-scale, high-bandwidth communication antennas to 3-D printer\/recyclers and water-fueled mini-thrusters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows a future satellite building scaffolding from carbon-fiber composites. (Credit: Tethers Unlimited) A division of Tethers Unlimited Inc., a space technology company based in Bothell, Wash., says it has signed a contract with a big-name spacecraft provider to demonstrate how future satellites could build their own frameworks in space. The deal calls [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5329,2897,4793],"class_list":["post-19218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-firmamentum","tag-space-systems-loral","tag-tethers-unlimited"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}