Leveraging an environment free from Earth's atmospheric contaminants, British tech company Space Forge aims to develop "perfect" diamond crystals in space.
By operating in space, Space Forge can grow diamonds under optimal conditions. Weightlessness provides for larger, perfect crystal formation, while near-zero temperatures allow for ultra-fast curing and operating in a vacuum eliminates contamination concerns.
A Space Forge spokesman told CBS News London that the growing chamber is essentially a "very fancy microwave."
"We put gases in, turn the microwave on, and we grow a crystal of material. And the crystal that we're growing… is [a diamond]," he said. "The advantage that we have is that, rather than doing that on the ground, we're actually making that material in space, where the conditions of no gravity and no atmosphere are perfect for that material."
Space Forge is promoting its ultra-pure diamonds for high-tech applications, such as heat conductors for electric vehicles and telecommunications. So far, the idea of space diamonds for jewelry is not on the company's radar.
Space Forge is aiming to prove the concept of in-orbit manufacturing as a new economy. The company's cosmic gem mission is set to launch from the US next month.
To ensure that the diamond crystals get back to Earth safely, the engineers at Space Forge designed an origami-style heat shield called Pridwen (named after King Arthur's shield) that intricately unfolds during reentry through the Earth's atmosphere.
Credit: Fanciful depiction of Space Forge diamond-growing operation in space by The Jeweler Blog using using ChatGPT and DALL-E 3.