Construction of Solar Power Satellites and Space Habitats via Self-Reproducing Manufacturing Facilities JUDSON T. HEWITT * The most advanced plans for development of space require the existence of self-reproducing manufacturing facilities. Using such facilities, both solar power satellites and space colonies may be constructed. The self-reproducing manufacturing facility is a factory capable of creating a functioning copy of itself using only raw materials, with the possible supplementation of some finished equipment from another source. Benefits of the development of space in general include the ability to transfer resources, either material or energy, from space to earth. Additionally, the development of space habitats has been shown to have a direct benefit to the earth ecosystem via reduction of population pressure. To date such development has been impeded by the cost of transportation of manufacturing facilities from earth to space. Though in the long term such development is justified, the cost until return on investment begins in plans which do not use self-reproducing machinery for production of solar power satellites and space habitats has been estimated to be high enough to cause the indefinite postponement of such development. In order to allow further research to be performed on the benefits to be derived from space development, it is necessary to formulate specific plans. These can also serve as a basis for comparison against other methods for the correction of some of the problems now occurring and projected to occur on earth. For this reason, a preliminary study of such plans has been performed and is available in a paper from the National Space Society. The present article is a synopsis of this more extensive paper which just appeared in [1], Self-reproducing manufacturing facilities are the basis of all plans considered, with the exception of one plan using a non-self-reproducing manufacturing facility in space, which is taken from a NASA study of 1977 on Space Resources and Space Settlements. This latter plan is discussed for purposes of comparison of cost, scheduling, and mass of material required from earth. The fundamental advantage of the use of self-reproducing manufacturing facilities follows from the fact that the initial facility is small. This facility expands its manufacturing capability by producing new copies of itself, which in turn produce additional copies, until the ensemble has the capability to manufacture products other than new copies at the desired rate. Since the new copies are produced from raw materials in space to the extent technologically possible, a manufacturing facility can be constructed with less equipment from earth than would be the case if self-reproduction were not used. Hence the cost of equipment construction and transportation into space is reduced. Von Neumann was the first to prove the existence of self-reproducing computers theoretically possible. The work was abstract, and not directed to the detailed development of a self-reproducing manufacturing facility, although theoretically * 11 Washington Place, Helena, MT 59601
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