High-vacuum and microgravity of the universe can provide some than the Earth's environment is much better than the technological conditions, different components of the material can be well mixed, the molten liquid is not the difference between the weight of the floating and sinking, does not produce convection, can be very good use of surface tension and other characteristics of the material? According to these unique conditions, people can create a very uniform? High hardness? High-strength alloys and composite materials, the production of large crystals without defects, high-purity optical fibers, no glow of the glass, as fine as silk wire, as thin as a cicada's wing of the metal film, light and strong foam alloys, completely spherical ball and hollow ball, precious and pure drugs and so on? In short, weightlessness? Vacuum? Unpolluted cosmic space, is the people for industrial development of the veritable "heavenly country", can bring huge economic benefits to mankind?
Over the past 20 years, people use all kinds of spacecraft in the cosmic space flight opportunity, carried out a large number of extensive cosmic industrial development experiments, opened up a new industrial field - cosmic industry? Cosmic industry has been in the smelting? Welding? Material processing? Pharmaceuticals and other aspects have made great progress in 1973, the United States astronauts in the "sky laboratory", successfully carried out the electron beam welding and cutting test in 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union in the "Apollo - Soyuz" spacecraft docking flight, had used the "cosmic multi-purpose electric furnace". "cosmic multi-purpose electric furnace" carried out in space smelting test, so that the two kinds of specific gravity of the metal is completely different melted together, access to the earth can not be manufactured on the aluminum tungsten alloy? September 1979 to 1960 in the former Soviet Union in the "salute to the 6" space station, had a The Soviet Union carried out the aluminum-magnesium-copper alloy on the Salute 6 space station from September 1979 to 1960 Copper? Gallium and other metal mixing experiments, for the first time with liquid gallium impregnation of porous copper, obtaining superconductor materials? It is reported that the germanium single crystal manufactured on the Salute 6 was analyzed and tested by slicing, and the rate of impurity inhomogeneity was reduced from 15% to 2%, and the dislocation density was reduced from 1 ore/cm5 to 102/cm2. On the Salute 7 space station, which was launched into orbit on April 16, 1982, the following results were obtained In April 16, 1982 launched into orbit on the "Salute 7" space station, had produced the first batch of space-made high-quality single crystals, weighing 1.5 kg, can be used for the manufacture of electronic computer components? The United States is not willing to lag behind, the space shuttle flights in recent years, 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 to extract urohormone enzyme from kidney cells, which is a treatment for Cerebral hemorrhage? A valuable drug for cerebral hemorrhage, thrombosis, for which the world needs 7 million grams a 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 carried out 73 experiments, such as the use of high-power furnaces to the earth can not be mixed together with aluminum and zinc melting, to create a kind of In November 1984, the space shuttle Discovery in the eight-day flight, the astronauts used the weightless environment to produce a link between the computer and the telephone optical fiber pure organic crystals? It is estimated that more than 400 alloys and products can be synthesized and manufactured under space conditions? NASA has developed a space production list of 35 products that are currently suitable for space production, including electronic instruments? Special alloys? Pharmaceuticals and other mature technology? According to reports, the space production of drugs, 1983 sales amounted to 12 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to the same year, missiles? Airplanes? Space products sales of 18% of the total?
With the rise of the space industry, a variety of space equipment and tool manufacturing is also being synchronized? Currently have been designed and manufactured for space production equipment, mainly heating? solar energy? Electron beam? Induction furnace? Magneto-hydrodynamic equipment and electrophoresis? These equipments and devices are characterized by miniaturization and light weight according to the space size of the spacecraft and the limited payload, and have a high degree of safety, reliability and reliability. Reliability reliability and controllability in line with other systems accompanying the spacecraft? 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, high-temperature zone (1000~1100℃)? Low temperature zone (600 ~ 700 ℃), and between: the two linear temperature gradient formed by the gradient zone? The computer can control the temperature within the range of the desired value? The furnaces are mounted in the docking transition module at the rear of the station and are exposed to space operations so that the smelted metal can be cooled 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, which are inserted into the furnace heating chamber. A copper reflector in the heating chamber ensures that the heat generated is concentrated on the specimen and helps to keep the temperature of the furnace wall below 40 percent. The sample material is melted? crystallized? and then packaged for return to Earth? The astronauts used the "Alloy" furnace to study the diffusion of molten metals, the formation of metal alloys and the actual differences in density, and the formation of superconductor alloys such as molybdenum and cadmium. The formation of superconductor alloys such as molybdenum and cadmium.
The "Crystal" device is a modified electric furnace weighing 28 kilograms with a complex electronic controller. Astronauts can maneuver the furnace from the station's spacer level, so there are no weak vibration perturbation effects? "The Crystalline furnace can process materials in four different ways: first, gas-phase sublimation; second, chemical gas transport; third, high-temperature motion dissolution; and fourth, heating and crystallization? Its temperature control is stricter than that of "alloy" furnaces, requiring regular and uniform crystal growth. The furnace has been used in a variety of applications including optical glass, semiconductor crystals, and a variety of unusual applications. The furnace has been used to produce products including optical glass, semiconductor crystals and a variety of unusual metal alloys.
The experimental equipment first tested on the Salute 7 orbital station is PION, a relatively new device used to study heat flow and mass transport, using a holographic device called the KGA-2 to record data on film or videotape. PION is very similar to the NASA Fluid Experiment System used on Skylab 3 in the United States.
More than 1,600 material-processing experiments have been conducted in the former Soviet Union*** using 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 industrial applications. The most important thing now is to gain knowledge of the physics of each process, knowledge that will help improve the efficiency of the production of flooring materials.
The Soviet Union claimed that by the end of the 1990s they would be able to manufacture integrated circuits with a density of one million semiconductor elements per square centimeter using space-produced semiconducting bodies of material. This success would compensate them for the large sums of money they had spent on space material production. Experiments aboard the Salute 6 and 7 orbital stations have shown that the atomic structure of space-produced crystals has improved significantly compared with that produced on the ground, and that their dislocation structure (as measured by structural defects) is smaller than that of crystals produced in terrestrial laboratories.
The success of space-processed materials will lead to significant progress in the production of electronic equipment? Klyabov, an official at the Soviet space materials processing organization, said the future space factory will produce a wide range of electronic equipment for television, medical equipment and high-speed digital computers. medical equipment and high-speed digital computers. James Oberg, an expert on the Soviet space program, noted that the space factory will produce a variety of important industrial materials for television equipment, medical equipment and high-speed digital computers. 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, and the purity of the product is four to five times higher than on the ground. In particular, the space shuttle Discovery, launched on August 30, 1984, has produced space drugs for clinical trials.
Because the space industry has such great 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, 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 science laboratory? A space factory? A space base to launch probes into outer space? Initially, 109 scientific experiments and space production programs were proposed, with a permanent staff of six to eight people, who would then be shuttled back and forth every six months by the Space Shuttle 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 factories? "Space pharmaceutical factories"? "Space power plant" and so on, the market will also have space commodities for sale, mankind will directly benefit from the cosmic space?