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BriefROBOTICS

Space Manufacturing Robot Assembles Solar Panels in Orbit — No Need to Launch Complete Structures From Earth

Orbital Fabrication's 'Weaver' space manufacturing robot, developed in partnership with NASA, has completed the first in-orbit assembled solar panel test on the ISS, achieving 50 kW output and validating the feasibility of building large structures from raw materials directly in space.

Space Manufacturing Robot Assembles Solar Panels in Orbit — No Need to Launch Complete Structures From Earth

In November 2027, the "Weaver" space manufacturing robot built by U.S. startup Orbital Fabrication completed a landmark test on the exterior of the International Space Station: using roll-fed thin-film materials and metal frame components shipped from Earth, the robot autonomously assembled a flexible solar panel roughly 20 square meters in area with a power output of 50 kW—all in microgravity.

Weaver weighs about 180 kilograms and is equipped with dual robotic arms and a material feed module. During the assembly process, the robot unspooled solar thin film from a storage reel, bonded it to a pre-formed carbon fiber frame using thermocompression welding, and completed electrode connections and preliminary testing. The entire assembly took 14 hours, with only two instances requiring ground engineers to intervene via remote commands.

"The traditional approach is to fold up a fully deployed solar panel and cram it into a rocket fairing—size and weight are both severely constrained," explained Rachel Kim, CEO of Orbital Fabrication. "Weaver's approach is fundamentally different. We ship only raw materials and the robot, then do the final manufacturing in space. In theory, this means we can assemble solar arrays of any size, unconstrained by rocket fairing diameter."

Tom Marshburn, deputy associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said the technology has strategic significance for future deep-space missions and lunar or Mars base construction. "If we can use similar technology to manufacture solar panels on the lunar surface, we won't need to ship all our energy infrastructure from Earth. This is one of the key technologies for sustainable space habitation."

However, in-orbit manufacturing still faces several challenges. Precision welding quality control in microgravity, material degradation from space radiation and atomic oxygen, and the logistics cost of raw material resupply all require further optimization. Orbital Fabrication plans to conduct a larger-scale assembly test in 2028, aiming to manufacture a 200 kW solar array in orbit.