Space Forge just fired a 1,000°C furnace in orbit — why making chips in space suddenly feels real

Random pick: technology. A UK startup, Space Forge, says it has ignited a plasma furnace aboard its ForgeStar‑1 satellite, hitting roughly 1,000°C and demonstrating the conditions needed to grow ultra‑pure crystals in microgravity — a first for commercial in‑space manufacturing. The company announced the milestone on December 31, 2025, calling ForgeStar‑1 the first free‑flying semiconductor manufacturing tool to operate in orbit.

What actually happened up there

On the microwave‑sized ForgeStar‑1 platform, engineers generated and controlled plasma — the hot, electrically charged gas used in many chip‑making steps — proving they can run a tiny “foundry” without gravity’s interference. This unlocks gas‑phase crystal growth experiments for wide and ultra‑wide bandgap materials (think silicon carbide and gallium nitride), the workhorses of power electronics. The goal is simple to say and hard to do: make crystals with fewer defects than Earth can manage.

Why it matters for the rest of us

Cleaner crystals can mean cooler, smaller, and more efficient electronics — from faster 5G base stations to EV inverters that waste less energy as heat. Space Forge and coverage of the milestone point to potential purity improvements of orders of magnitude (the company has touted “up to 4,000×” purer materials in concept), which, if borne out at scale, could ripple through everything from charging times to grid‑scale power electronics. To keep feet on the ground: this is still R&D in orbit, not mass production. But it’s a credible, tested step on a path that didn’t exist a few years ago.

The bigger picture: space is quietly becoming a factory floor

Space Forge’s tiny hot shop slots into a trend you’ve likely felt, even if you haven’t named it: moving parts of the digital economy off‑planet. In recent weeks, reporting revealed Blue Origin is developing technology for orbital AI data centers — the idea being that abundant solar power and vacuum might one day beat Earth on energy, cooling, and land use. Separate analysis suggests other tech giants are exploring similar demonstrations. Put together, the “compute in space, make materials in space” storyline now has real hardware in orbit, not just slides.

So… is this the start of ‘chips from space’?

Short term: expect more tests. ForgeStar‑1 isn’t designed to bring cargo home; it’s a pathfinder to validate thermal controls and zero‑G processing. Space Forge’s next steps include refining the process and preparing future platforms that can return manufactured materials to Earth using its foldable “Pridwen” heat shield system. Think of today’s success as getting the oven to the right temperature and proving it doesn’t melt the kitchen.

Medium term: if follow‑on missions can repeatedly grow defect‑lean crystals and land them safely, niche, high‑value parts could arrive first — power components for satellites, aerospace, advanced telecom gear. Prices would start high (space is expensive), but early customers care about performance per watt more than dollars per gram.

Long term (a tasteful sprinkle of “what if”): pair in‑space chipmaking with future orbital data centers and you get an industrial stack where both the tools (chips) and the workloads (AI training, scientific compute) benefit from the same environment — constant solar power, cryogenic darkness, and microgravity. That’s decades‑scale, but milestones like yesterday’s push it from sci‑fi toward “give it a budget and a timeline.”

How this connects to other recent news

All through 2025, data centers, AI hardware, and power electronics were the market’s heartbeat. Blue Origin’s public enthusiasm about moving compute skyward and reports of companies testing AI chips in orbit show the energy and materials bottlenecks of today’s tech economy are inspiring space‑based answers. Space Forge’s furnace demo gives that conversation a concrete anchor: it’s not just about where we run code, but where we make the parts that let code run efficiently.

What to watch next (and a tiny joke for the road)

• Repeatability: one-off stunts don’t change industries; consistent crystal quality will. Look for follow‑up data on defect densities and yields.
• Return missions: successful Pridwen tests and recovery of intact samples will mark the leap from demo to product roadmap.
• Ground competition: terrestrial fabs aren’t standing still; expect counter‑moves in advanced GaN/SiC processing and clever Earth‑side ways to mimic microgravity effects.

And the joke? Space Forge basically turned on a cosmic kiln the size of a microwave and kept it steady at 1,000°C while orbiting Earth at 7.8 km/s. If you’ve ever scorched a pizza at 250°C, you can appreciate the engineering flex.

Bottom line: Yesterday’s orbital furnace milestone doesn’t mean your next phone will be “Made in Space,” but it does mean serious players are lighting real fires under the idea. If the purity gains translate to products, expect a quieter grid, thriftier EVs, and telecom gear that runs cooler — benefits you’ll feel even if you never look up.