News: Suppliers
3 March 2026
Space Forge announces completion of UK Space Agency-funded National Microgravity Research Centre
Marking the final milestone in a £13m program part-funded by the UK Space Agency, Space Forge of Cardiff, UK (which has operations on Florida’s Space Coast) has announced completion of the National Microgravity Research Centre (NMRC), fulfilling the objectives of the Space Clusters Infrastructure Fund (SCIF) project awarded in November 2023. Administered by the UK Space Agency, the SCIF supports investment in the infrastructure needed to grow the UK’s regional space clusters, in line with the ambitions set out in the National Space Strategy.
The NMRC is located at the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials (CISM) at Swansea University, where Space Forge has become the center’s first incubation client. Operating from a dedicated cleanroom incubation bay, the company now has access to a full suite of semiconductor processing and characterization tools, as well as CISM’s wider community of semiconductor researchers, companies and innovators.
The facility forms the terrestrial anchor of Space Forge’s hybrid manufacturing model, in which semiconductor seed wafers grown in the micro-gravity of low Earth orbit are returned to Earth and scaled at CISM.
Completion of the NMRC follows Space Forge launching ForgeStar-1 – the first British-built in-space manufacturing satellite – aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-14 in June 2025. By December, ForgeStar-1 had generated plasma in orbit, demonstrating that the extreme conditions required for gas-phase crystal growth can be created and controlled aboard a commercial spacecraft. The satellite’s mission data is directly informing the design of future missions and the development of micro-gravity growth tools at CISM.
At CISM, Space Forge is developing its terrestrial scale-up capability with a focus on radiation-hard wide-bandgap power electronics materials, including silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium oxide (Ga2O3). These materials benefit significantly from the absence of convection, ultra-high vacuum and stable thermal conditions found in micro-gravity.
“When we secured this funding in 2023 we set out to build something that would advance micro-gravity materials and open doors for other space companies to do the same,” says Space Forge’s CEO & co-founder Joshua Western. “Being based at CISM gives us access to world-class semiconductor infrastructure and a community of researchers and talent that will help us move faster,” he adds.
“Completion of the National Microgravity Research Centre is another concrete example of what our Space Clusters Infrastructure Fund is designed to achieve – tangible, lasting infrastructure that strengthens the UK’s space economy and builds sovereign capability in strategically important technologies,” comments the UK Space Agency’s CEO Dr Paul Bate. “Space Forge has demonstrated real ambition, from launching the first British-built in-space manufacturing satellite to now establishing a world-class terrestrial facility at Swansea University. This investment is helping to cement Wales and the wider UK as a serious player in the future of semiconductor manufacturing.”
Space Forge generates plasma aboard ForgeStar-1 satellite
Space Forge and United Semiconductors partner to develop supply chain for space-grown materials
Micro-gravity manufacturing firm Space Forge to be CISM’s first incubation client
