Optical fibre made in orbit should be better than the terrestrial sort

IN THE 1970s, when those behind America’s manned space programme were trying to keep it alive as people got bored of moon landings, one fantasy was that there were products which might be made easily in space that were hard to create on Earth—metal foams, for example. Such dreams came to nothing because, however fancy the product, the cost of manufacturing it in orbit was never lower than the price it would have commanded back on Earth.

Two Californian firms, however, think they have cracked this problem. Made in Space and FOMS (Fiber Optic Manufacturing in Space) are both proposing to manufacture optical fibre of the highest quality in the free-falling conditions of the International Space Station. At $1m a kilogram, this is a material that is well worth the trip to and from orbit.