Space Manufacturing

Woman looking at a satellite on a computer screen

A National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) planning grant will support the Center for Science, Technology and Advanced Research in Space (C-STARS).

C-STARS will be a multidisciplinary research hub with the mission to support and serve the growing space sector in space manufacturing and train the next generation of workers in space technologies, sciences, and exploration.

C-STARS will bring together universities, industries, and the Florida Spaceport to transform access to the space environment and facilitate development of innovative on-demand, in situ space manufacturing capabilities in biopharma, microelectronics, photonics, and payload hardware solutions.

The overall vision of C-STARS is to ensure our country achieves and sustains global space manufacturing preeminence.

Current partners

University of Florida

The University of Florida (UF) is a long-standing institution for space related research with over 150 researchers studying space sciences, health and human performance, engineering, and technology development generating greater than $155M since 2020 in NASA partnership funding. UF is part of the Florida Space Grant Consortium and operates the Space Life Science Lab at Kennedy Space Center. As the lead center, UF will partner with ORAU, which will contribute access to its 150+ research-intensive universities and industry partnerships. Through its leadership in public-private partnerships, ORAU will mobilize diverse networks of cross-functional teams to promote collaborative research, design novel technical solutions, and implement new models in K-16 STEM education, training, and learning for space.

Florida A&M University

Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University (FAMU) has a state-of-the-art Bio-printing lab with the ability to print live tissue and micro-electromechanical devices nano-printed in microneedle patches. The latest technological developments at the bio-printing lab include a levitated printing system to simulate and develop space printing technologies in the lab. Moreover, FAMU has a wealth of underrepresented minority students who are trained at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The FAMU Center for Plasma Science and Technology has advanced Femto-second laser plasma generators that can be used for precision sintering in microgravity environments.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has the Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics Laboratory (WiDE) established to advance the state of the art and educate the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs in wireless systems, antennas and sensors, and connected and autonomous cyber-physical systems. WiDE’s recent research is in RF-based sensors for harsh environments and aerospace applications. WiDE has a far-field antenna anechoic chamber and supporting test equipment including to millimeter wave frequencies and its high-resolution additive manufacturing systems can be focused for space manufacturing.

Florida Institute of Technology

Florida Institute of Technology has a Biomaker Space facility which houses state-of-the-art bioprinters and related characterization tools for printing tissue constructs and organoids for various Space and Earth based biomedical engineering applications. Coupled with the advances in biomaterials, the lab has developed 3D tissue models that better replicate the structure, physiology, and function seen in vivo 2D cell culture models. Florida Tech is an affiliate member of Florida Space Grant Consortium.

Contact us

For more information about ORAU STEM Accelerator, contact Liv Blackmon at olivia.blackmon@orau.org.