Microgravity: a new demand for advanced in-orbit R&D

Microgravity — the condition in which gravity is present, but its ordinary mechanical effects (sedimentation, convection, fluid stratification) are almost entirely cancelled out — is not a frontier reserved for exploration: it is an industrial laboratory. In low Earth orbit, metal solidification occurs without convective motion, composites cure without matrix sedimentation, cells self-assemble into 3D structures that replicate human tissue with a fidelity impossible on the ground, and biosensors and bioelectronic devices are tested under extreme conditions. These are phenomena inaccessible in terrestrial laboratories, with direct impact on advanced manufacturing, biohealth and agri-industry. The panel’s thesis is that a concrete industrial demand for in-orbit R&D experimentation may emerge around microgravity: mechanical SMEs seeking microstructures unattainable on the ground, composite manufacturers wanting perfectly oriented fibres, biotech and pharmaceutical firms needing more faithful tissue models to shorten the preclinical phase, agri-food players looking for new certification standards. No longer just technological supply, but demand expressed by the end users of industrial value chains. With the imminent decommissioning of the ISS and the arrival of commercial orbital habitats, a window opens to build — in Emilia-Romagna too — a structured experimental capability that connects consolidated scientific competences, already identifiable application cases and early industrial partners. The panel brings research and industry face to face to outline the priority lines and enabling conditions of this new space bioeconomy and manufacturing.

Programme

Moderator
Elena Galli, AeroHub Project Coordinator, Clust-ER MECH

Speakers
Lucio Madella Amadei, CEO, Egicon Srl Enrico Troiani, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Bologna
Valentina Benfenati, Research Director, CNR-ISOF
Stefano Carosio, Executive Director, STAM