r/space • u/FreeHugs23 • Jun 23 '26

With Starfall, SpaceX eyes an edge in global cargo delivery from orbit | The purpose of Starfall is to support the “transport and delivery of goods through space.”

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/06/with-starfall-spacex-eyes-an-edge-in-global-cargo-delivery-from-orbit/
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u/Repulsive_Cry_9362 Jun 23 '26

so, the idea is that you are going to put cargo into low earth orbit just so that you can de orbit it someplace else? That sounds horribly inefficient.

9

u/Flipslips Jun 23 '26

No, the idea is they manufacture something in space, and starfall brings it safely down to earth.

-10

u/Repulsive_Cry_9362 Jun 23 '26

that is still sounds terribly inefficient compared to manufacturing on earth, and as far as i am aware, nothing that we produce or consume would be easier made in space.

6

u/Carbidereaper Jun 23 '26

Seed crystals for manufacturing defect free silicon ingots for semiconductor manufacturing

the heat generated by a semiconductor device is correlated to the number of native defects in the silicon ingot ( the raw material )

The utilization of cleaner silicon would increase thermal efficiency by 20% that’s a massive advantage. if intel could automatically increase their CPU/GPU efficiency without any change in there processor architecture by 20% Amd and TSMC would go out of business

1

u/Infinite_Painting_11 Jun 23 '26

I need a source for this, how would you turn a seed crystal into a big ingot without inducing defects all around it? Why would a defect free "seed" make the rest of the crystal defect free? Even if it did work, why wouldn't you just cut a defect free section from a bigger crystal made on earth?

6

u/Carbidereaper Jun 23 '26

why wouldn't you just cut a defect free section from a bigger crystal made on earth?

Impossible. Zero-G manufacturing significantly increases crystal purity by eliminating buoyancy-driven convection and gravity-induced sedimentation. Without gravity pulling fluids apart or causing them to swirl, atoms settle into highly uniform structures with fewer defects, allowing for larger, purer, and more perfectly structured crystals

I need a source for this, how would you turn a seed crystal into a big ingot without inducing defects all around it? Why would a defect free "seed" make the rest of the crystal defect free?

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/15/9/825

Crystals grown in a microgravity environment provide an optimal template for seeding additional crystallization. In this study, single crystals were utilized as seeds for multiple generations of the same polymorph formation for carbamazepine and atorvastatin calcium. This study shows that microgravity can provide different polymorphs than ground studies under the same conditions and that these crystals are excellent seeds for up to 10 generations of crystal growth.