Building Chip Factories in Space | Tech News

0:00It's September 9th. Welcome to Tech News Today, powered by AI and ready to explore the future. So, there's this startup called BessSAR, founded by a former open AI person, and they're looking to build semi-conductor factories in space. The idea is to use the vacuum of space to make the super-peer materials needed for advanced chips, which on Earth requires massive, expensive, clean rooms. They've already raised nearly $14 million to get this going. They're planning to use SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket boosters for this, which are pretty much the workhorses of space travel right now, making tons of round trips. BessSAR has a deal to prototype their orbital factory across a dozen flights. They've already sent up their first two test canisters on a Starlink mission back in July. The whole point is to avoid fighting physics here on Earth. Building chip factories on the ground is incredibly complex, because you have to keep out even the tiniest spec of dust. BessSAR believes space offers a cleaner, more cost-effective environment for this kind of high-tech manufacturing.

1:04Even though one of their test canisters had a data system issue, the samples they brought back were cleaner than what they can produce on Earth. This is a huge win for them, as they aim to scale up production of these crucial way for materials. BessSAR, named after that tough Star Wars medal, wants to supply major chip companies with materials for things like data centers and electric. The big hurdle is getting enough product back to Earth, which depends on cheaper, more frequent rocket flights, especially with new rockets from. SpaceX and others coming online.