In March 2025, The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign launched the Center for In-Space Manufacturing of Resilient Structures (SpaceMaRS) to support the continued development of in-space manufacturing and assembly of resilient space structures. The center builds on current efforts supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to demonstrate that carbon fiber composite structural components can be manufactured directly on-orbit and made available for robotic assembly into large structures without the need to launch pre-made structures from the ground.
The Center also leverages on several on-going research programs and centers supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) on composites and hybrid structures with resistance to impact by Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD) and to attack by atomic oxygen (AO) and ultraviolet radiation (UV) and embedded strategies for in situ sensing, characterization and healing of material and structural damage. These research programs are leveraging major research equipment funding that has enabled the acquisition of a large scale 3D printer for continuous fiber composites, a full suite of chambers and instrumentation for simulated Low Earth Environment (LEO) that captures the combined effects of AO and UV on materials and a Two Stage Light Gas Gun (2SLGG) that can launch metal projectiles to hypervelocities (>7 km/s) similar to those of orbital space debris in LEO.
The DARPA-sponsored demonstration project, Mission ‘Illinois’, is part of Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-Efficient Design (NOM4D) program and will be launched to the International Space Station in 2026. Mission ‘Illinois’ will use a system developed by an interdisciplinary team within Illinois Grainger Engineering, led by mechanical science and engineering professor Sameh Tawfick, for on-orbit manufacturing of carbon fiber composites. A unique shelf-stable resin has been developed to make pre-impregnated composite structural elements on earth for on-demand curing on-orbit. A space grade payload initiates a self-propagating chemical reaction triggered by heat causing the resin to harden into solid form and incrementally manufacture a composite structure.
“Since we started Mission ‘Illinois,’ it drew keen interest from other researchers and the space industry,” Tawfick said. “Wild ideas are now emerging to even deploy data centers on orbit, which require demanding power and cooling support structures. Mission ‘Illinois’ provides an efficient and rapid technology to produce the basic building blocks of these dream structures. We owe our success to a tight knit team which integrated novel chemistry, materials science, composites packaging, analysis and machine design to demonstrate the first-ever fabrication of tubular composite structural elements in space.”
In parallel, the AFOSR-sponsored Center for Resilient Multifunctional Space Structures and Surfaces, led by aerospace engineering professor Jeff Baur, has focused on structural resiliency to the space environment to ensure that composite space structures can not only be built in space, but are also robust to endure the extreme conditions and threats encountered in space.
“The space environment can be unforgiving to light-weight structures like composites whether they are made in space or on earth,” Baur said. “We have demonstrated chemistries, composite designs, and AI-assisted damage sensing strategies that can resist, report and restore damage from that harsh environment.”
SpaceMaRS is being organized by Illinois Grainger Engineering aerospace engineering professor Ioannis Chasiotis and brings together eight faculty members from four academic departments with complementary expertise in lab simulation of space environments, hypervelocity impact mechanics, multifunctional space structures, robotics, composites processing, materials modeling and new chemistries.
The center also includes Illinois Grainger Engineering aerospace engineering professors Huck Beng Chew, Philippe Geubelle and Xin Ning; Illinois Grainger Engineering materials science and engineering professor Nancy Sottos; and Illinois chemistry professor Jeffrey Moore.
“The SpaceMaRS center at the Illinois Grainger Engineering integrates and focuses our strong technical efforts in in-space manufacturing and structural resiliency to AO erosion and MMOD impact to build the future in space that many of us have imagined,” Chasiotis said.
Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Sameh Tawfick is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of mechanical science and engineering in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering. He is also affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He holds a Ralph A. Anderson Faculty Scholar appointment.
Jeff Baur is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of aerospace engineering in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He holds a Founder Professor appointment.
Ioannis Chasiotis is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of aerospace engineering in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He is affiliated with the Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He holds a Caterpillar Professor of Engineering appointment.
Huck Beng Chew is an Illinois Grainger Engineering associate professor of aerospace engineering in the Department of Aerospace Engineering.
Philippe Geubelle is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of aerospace engineering in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He is also affiliated with the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering. He is the executive associate dean of The Grainger College of Engineering. He holds a Bliss Professor appointment.
Xin Ning an Illinois Grainger Engineering assistant professor of aerospace engineering in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He is affiliated with the Materials Research Laboratory.
Nancy R Sottos is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She is affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. She is the department head for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She holds a Swanlund Endowed Chair appointment.
Jeffrey S. Moore is an Illinois Professor Emeritus of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry. He is also affiliated with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Materials Research Laboratory, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. He holds Stanley O. Ikenberry Research Professor and Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chair Emeritus appointments.