Crewed and Autonomous Platforms: Building the Future Together

On the path towards producing the first commercial products in orbit for use on Earth, human-rated stations and autonomous platforms must work in concert to build the future of manufacturing infrastructure in Low Earth Orbit and grow the orbital economy. Reversing the challenges that have stagnated the orbital economy to date will necessitate changes in thinking and processes. Congressional mandates to achieve routine and commercially viable orbital production will require a combination of public-private partnerships and crewed and non-crewed missions to advance Earth-bound manufacturing in space.