From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Session will start at 10 a.m. PT – Please mute your microphone and turn off your camera

Community of Practice Webinar Series – April 6, 2022

Dmitry Starodubov, Ph.D., FOMS, Inc. 

Steve Huning, NASA’s Johnson Space Center

Kevin Engelbert, NASA’s Johnson Space Center

From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Welcome to the Community of Practice Webinar Series!

First, a bit of housekeeping...

• Please mute your microphone and turn off your camera

• Today’s session will be recorded

• Recordings for all future sessions are on the Flight Opportunities website

• Please engage!

• Use the chat throughout the session to ask questions

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From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Flight Opportunities Mission

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The Flight Opportunities program facilitates rapid 

demonstration of promising technologies for 

space exploration, discovery, and the expansion 

of space commerce through suborbital testing 

with industry flight providers.

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Join us for future Community of Practice webinars!

Subscribe to our newsletter 

to see next month’s topic!

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Future webinars

• Webinars are held 1st Wednesday of each 

month at 10 a.m. PT

• Topics will be announced in the Flight 

Opportunities newsletter and website

• Session recordings will be posted on the 

Flight Opportunities website

• Let us know session topics you would like 

to see covered

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From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Upcoming Opportunities

NASA TechLeap Prize - Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge No.1 

Seeking proposals for sensing systems that can detect hazards from an altitude of 

250 meters or higher and process the data in real time to help spacecraft land 

safely in the dark

• Open to researchers from qualified commercial businesses and academic 

institutions, as well as individual entrepreneurs and other innovators

• Key Dates

• Q&A on April 12, 2022

• Register by May 5, 2022

• Applications due May 19, 2022

TechFlights – Coming Soon!

Awards funding for promising space-based innovations to researchers from U.S.-

based industry, academia, and other non-NASA organizations. Awardees 

purchase flights directly from any eligible U.S. commercial flight provider that best 

suits their technology demonstration.

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Today’s Speakers

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Dmitry Starodubov, Ph.D. 

Chief Scientist

FOMS, Inc.

Kevin Engelbert

Commercial Portfolio Manager for In 

Space Production Applications 

NASA’s Johnson Space Center

Steve Huning

Research Portfolio Manager

NASA’s Johnson Space Center

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From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

4

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Community of Practice

Dr. Dmitry Starodubov | April 2022

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Motivation: Space Manufacturing

*D. Starodubov, S. Mechery, D. Miller, C. Ulmer, P. Willems, J. Ganley, and D. Tucker, "ZBLAN Fibers: 

From Zero Gravity Tests to Orbital Manufacturing," in Imaging and Applied Optics 2014, OSA Technical 

Digest (Optical Society of America, 2014), paper AM4A.2.

- 2012, *D. Starodubov et al., Air Force SBIR, Space Test Program: Demonstration 

of improved ZBLAN optical fiber draw on parabolic flight

- $100B market opportunity on Earth for space manufacturing products

- Low-loss fiber promise for future optical fiber communications 

- High value to mass ratio products: $1M/kg optical fibers and fiber preforms

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From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

5

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Approach: ISS Space Factory TM

- Unique double-locker docking EXPRESS facility on ISS

- Ground center for remote control of manufacturing process

- Modular fabrication unit design with crew access for loading of materials 

- Fully automated fiber manufacturing capability for SpX25 flight mission (06/22)

D. Starodubov, K. McCormick, M. Dellosa, E. Erdelyi, and L. Volfson, "Microgravity Fiber Processing 

for Future Optical Networks," WSOF 2019, SPIE Proc. 11206, paper 11206-70.

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Space Fibers 3 (SpX25) Pre Flight

- Three parabolic flights of Space Fibers 3 automated manufacturing unit

- Gravity-immune, continuous fiber draw through 0g and 1.7g, 3 spools of fiber 

- Multiple design upgrades for mission success of ISS operations

- Verification of test protocols, safety designs and mission operations

- Incredible support from Flight Opportunities Program team

- Highly valuable inputs and guidance from NASA SBIR and ISS Utilization 

- National Academy member, NASA employee and high school student flyers 

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From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

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Low-Earth Orbit Economy

In Space Production Applications (InSPA)

Enabling U.S. Leadership of In-Space Manufacturing in LowEarth Orbit for Terrestrial Markets – In Space for Earth!

Kevin Engelbert, ISS-OZ, NASA InSPA Portfolio Manager

Kevin.engelbert-1@nasa.gov

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DRAFT

EXECUTIVE 

SUMMARY

In Space Production 

Applications (InSPA)

• NASA’s InSPA portfolio aims to enable demonstrations on the ISS National Lab of inspace manufacturing of high-value advanced materials, including bio-materials, for 

use on Earth.

• InSPA applies lessons from 40 years of microgravity (uG) research and nearly $40M in 

prior NASA ISS NRA awards to develop applications that benefit the nation, humanity, 

and the LEO economy over the next 10 years. 

• The focus is on scalable applications that have a sustainable impact on the LEO 

economy and that will ensure U.S. leadership in the use of microgravity for 

manufacturing.

• The goal is to assist as many InSPA technologies through two “Valleys of Death” 

(Technology and Manufacturing) before ISS transition so that public/private 

investment takes over. The science is sound, but manufacturing control must be 

proven in uG and it takes a lot of practice!

• The InSPA portfolio has benefited from a partnership with the Flight Opportunities 

Program to utilize parabolic flights for testing of InSPA prototypes as risk mitigation 

and to develop team expertise. 

• NASA expects continued use of parabolic flights and possible expansion into 

Suborbital flights to validate hardware and procedures prior to launch to ISS to make 

the best use of constrained ISS resources.

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From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

7

DRAFT

Why In Space Production? Why Microgravity?

• Microgravity removes convection, sedimentation, and buoyancy that warp and disrupt physical and chemical processes 

on Earth in 1g

• In Microgravity (uG), diffusion is the dominant process, a gentler mixing that enables more perfect, uniform, and 

precise structures at the level of individual molecules and groups of atoms, leading to unique alloys and formulations

• Microgravity also allows surface tension features to dominate for more precise adhesion, contact, and interaction 

between layers of similar and dissimilar constituents, yielding unique, more complex, and higher quality products

• ISS applied R&D shows that microgravity can assist in the development of next generation materials in multiple fields 

including space, defense, information technologies, communications, medicine, power, green technologies, and a wide 

range of next generation consumer products. They inform entire classes of new materials and products where 

exceptional precision and quality are sought

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DRAFT

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1G

μG

1G

μG

Crystals with Better Structure...

1983-now 1000+ Crystals in μG

and Much Greater

Uniformity in μG

Are all caused in 

part by 

slower crystal 

growth in 

microgravity

Exotic Glasses and Fiber 

Manufacturing in Space

Use slower crystal growth in μG to prevent 

unwanted crystallization in exotic glasses and 

fibers manufacturing on commercial scales 

and lack of sedimentation and buoyancy to 

enable better glass alloys

1G

μG

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From Suborbital Flight to the International Space Station

Dmitry Starodubov, Steve Huning, Kevin Engelbert

April 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

8

DRAFT

Summary

• The role of microgravity in materials research offers the U.S. and its partners a competitive edge now, but global 

competition is increasing rapidly.

• NASA and the ISS National Laboratory are collaborating on a strategy and set of recommended targets for rapid 

development of In Space Production Applications over the next ten years, with concentration on accelerating 

carefully selected advances with a rapid return on investment

• NASA is determined to use the remaining life of the ISS to enable high-value technologies and maintain U.S. 

leadership of in-space manufacturing and production.

• Use of parabolic and suborbital flight capabilities accelerates learning and increases mission success for highly 

valued demonstration opportunities in LEO.

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We are in a race that has already begun and extends into the foreseeable future between nations and innovators worldwide to 

determine who is first and who is best in the development of space materials and products.

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

16 www.nasa.gov

Thank you! 

Flight Opportunities website: 

http://nasa.gov/flightopportunities

Contact us:

NASA-FlightOpportunities@mail.nasa.gov

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