High-vacuum and microgravity space can provide certain process technology conditions that are much better than those of the Earth's environment, where substances of different compositions can be well mixed, molten liquids do not have the difference between light and heavy floating and sinking, do not produce convection, and make good use of surface tension and other material properties. According to these unique conditions, people can create a very uniform, high hardness, high strength alloys and composite materials, the production of defect-free bulk crystals, high purity optical fiber, no glow glass, as fine as silk wire, thin as a cicada's wing of the metal film, but also light and strong foam alloys, completely spherical ball and hollow ball, precious and pure medicines and so on. In short, weightlessness, vacuum, pollution-free cosmic space, is a veritable industrial development of the "Kingdom of Heaven", can bring huge economic benefits to mankind.
Over the past 20 years, people have utilized the opportunity of various spacecraft flying in the cosmic space to carry out a large number of extensive experiments on the development of cosmic industry, and opened up a new industrial field -- cosmic industry. Cosmic industry has made great progress in smelting, welding, materials processing, pharmaceuticals, etc. In 1973, the United States astronauts in the "sky laboratory", successfully carried out the electron beam welding and cutting test. 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union in the "Apollo - Soyuz In 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union in the "Apollo - Soyuz" spacecraft docking flight, had used. "cosmic multi-purpose electric furnace" space smelting test, so that the two specific gravity of the metal is completely different melted together, to obtain the earth can not be manufactured on the aluminum tungsten alloy. 1979 September to 1960 the former Soviet Union in the "salute 6" on the space station, there were Aluminum and magnesium, copper. Gallium and other metal mixing experiments, for the first time with liquid gallium impregnated porous copper, to obtain superconductor materials. It is reported that in the "salute 6" on the manufacture of germanium single crystal, analyzed by the slice analysis, impurity inhomogeneity rate from 15% down to 2%, dislocation density from 1 mine / cm 5 down to 102 / cm 2. In April 16, 1982 launched into orbit "salute 7" on the space station, the first time to use liquid gallium impregnated porous copper to obtain superconductor materials. "The space station, has produced the first batch of space-made high-quality single crystal, weighing 1.5 kg, can be used for the manufacture of electronic computer components. The United States is not willing to lag behind, in recent years the space shuttle flights, in addition to the obvious military purposes, the most important goal is to carry out industrial production tests. March 23, 1982, "Columbia" space shuttle in the third flight, astronaut Fullerton trial electrophoresis from kidney cells to extract the enzyme urohormone, which is a treatment of cerebral hemorrhage, thrombosis, and other diseases. This is a valuable drug for the treatment of cerebral hemorrhage and thrombosis, for which 7 million grams are needed worldwide each year. The test was successful, for thrombosis and other patients with the gospel. November 28, 1983, the "Columbia" space shuttle 6th flight, in its carry launch of the European Space Laboratory had 73 experiments, such as the use of high-powered furnaces to the earth can not be mixed with the aluminum and zinc melted together to create a In November 1984, during the eight-day flight of the space shuttle Discovery, the astronauts used the weightless environment to produce a pure organic crystal that linked computers and telephone optical fibers. It is estimated that more than 400 alloys and products can be synthesized and manufactured under space conditions. NASA has opened a space production list of 35 products that are currently suitable for space production, including electronic instruments, special alloys, and pharmaceuticals that have mature processes. According to reports, space-produced drugs, sales in 1983 amounted to 12 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to the same year, missiles, airplanes, space products, 18% of total sales.
With the rise of the space industry, a variety of cosmic equipment and tools are also being manufactured simultaneously. At present, production equipment has been designed and manufactured for use in space, mainly heating, solar energy, electron beams, induction furnaces, magnetic fluid power equipment and electrophoresis and other devices. Such equipment and devices are characterized by miniaturization and light weight, in accordance with the space dimensions of the spacecraft and the limited payload, and are consistent in terms of safety, reliability and controllability with other systems accompanying the flight. Two sets of material equipment - "Alloys" and "Crystals" - have been used on two orbital stations, Salute 6 and 7. ".
The "Alloy" equipment is an electric furnace, weighing about 32 kilograms, used for smelting metals. It has three heating zones, a high-temperature zone (1000 to 1100°C), a low-temperature zone (600 to 700°C), and a gradient zone formed by a linear temperature gradient between: the two. A computer can control the temperature within plus or minus 5°C of the desired value. The furnaces are mounted in the docking transition module at the rear of the orbital station and are exposed to space operations, which allows the smelted metal to cool sufficiently. The "alloy" equipment is powered by the orbital station with 300 watts of power.
The test oceans are packaged in a small box containing three crystal ampoules each, which are inserted into a furnace heating chamber during the test. A copper reflector in the heating chamber ensures that the heat generated is concentrated on the specimen and also helps to keep the temperature of the furnace wall below 40%. The specimen material is melted, crystallized, and then packaged for return to Earth. The astronauts used the "Alloy" furnace to study the process of diffusion of molten metal, the formation of metal alloy materials and the actual difference in density, as well as the formation of superconductor alloys such as molybdenum and cadmium.
The "Crystal" device is a modified furnace weighing 28 kilograms with a complex electronic controller. Astronauts can maneuver the furnace from the station's spacer level, so there are no disturbing effects of weak vibrations. The "Crystal" furnace is capable of processing materials in four different ways: firstly, gas-phase sublimation; secondly, chemical gas transport; thirdly, high-temperature motion dissolution; and fourthly, heating and crystallization. Its temperature control is stricter than that of the "alloy" furnace, requiring regular and uniform crystal growth. The furnace has been used in the production of products including optical glass, semiconductor crystals and a variety of unusual metal alloys.
The first experimental equipment to be tried out on the Salute 7 orbital station was the relatively new PION, which was used to study heat flow and mass transport using a holographic device called the KGA-2 to record data on film or videotape. The PION is very similar to the NASA Fluid Experiment System used on Skylab 3.
More than 1,600 material-processing experiments have been conducted in the former Soviet Union***, using mainly the three types of equipment described above. In addition, nearly 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) of research products have been returned to earth, some of which have been used in industry. It is now of paramount importance to gain knowledge of the physics of each process, that is, knowledge that will help improve the efficiency of ground material production.
The former Soviet Union had claimed that by the end of the 1990s they would be able to manufacture integrated circuits with a density of 1 million semiconductor elements per square centimeter using space-produced semiconducting bodies of material. This success would compensate them for the large sums of money spent on space material production. Experiments on the Salute 6 and 7 orbital stations have shown that the atomic structure of space-produced crystals has improved significantly in comparison with that produced on the ground, and that their dislocation structure (as measured by structural defects) is smaller than that produced in ground laboratories.
The success of space-processed materials will lead to significant progress in the production of electronic equipment. Kryabov, an official at the Soviet space materials plus agency, said future space factories will produce a variety of important industrial materials for factory television equipment, medical equipment, and high-speed digital computers. James Oberg, an expert on the Soviet space program, noted that space-produced materials will be produced in space. Oberg noted that space-produced materials could also be used to improve components of missile guidance systems and infrared tracking devices.
In the microgravity environment of space, electrophoretic separation is 716 times more efficient than on the ground, while product purity is four to five times higher than on the ground. Especially in the August 30, 1984 launch of the "discovery" space shuttle has been produced for clinical trials of space drugs.
Because the space industry has such a huge potential, has attracted the attention of industry in many countries, in the United States there are 53 private companies are considering the development of their own business plan. In order to attract more private companies to the wave of space commercialization, in 1984, the Reagan administration issued a new policy on promoting space commercialization activities and established a specialized agency within NASA to coordinate space commercial applications.
Because of the allure of the space industry, U.S. President Reagan announced in his 1984 State of the Union address plans to build within a decade a permanently manned space station that would include a scientific laboratory, a space factory, and a space base to launch probes into outer space. Initially, 109 scientific experiments and space production projects were proposed, with a resident population of six to eight, which would then be round-tripped by the Space Shuttle every six months to send means of production and subsistence and to retrieve industrial products and exploration data. Although for various reasons, the scale of the space station will be reduced, the completion of the time to be delayed, but sooner or later the development of space production, the vast expanse of cosmic space will appear a number of "space smelting plant", "space welding factory", "space pharmaceutical factory", "space power plant" and so on, the market will also have space commodities for sale, mankind will directly benefit from the cosmic space.