What is spaceshoring?

Spaceshoring is the strategy of relocating manufacturing and other operations from Earth to space — Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the Moon, and beyond — to take advantage of microgravity, abundant solar energy, and a vacuum environment. It sits alongside offshoring, nearshoring, friendshoring and reshoring as a supply-chain option.

How is spaceshoring different from reshoring, nearshoring and friendshoring?

Reshoring, nearshoring and friendshoring all optimize where on Earth production happens — closer to home, or in allied countries — to improve resilience and sustainability. Spaceshoring goes one step further: it treats orbit itself as a manufacturing destination, unlocking capabilities like microgravity crystallization and vacuum deposition that no Earth location can offer.

Is spaceshoring economically viable?

It is quickly becoming viable. Cost per kg to LEO has fallen from around $65,400 with the Space Shuttle to about $1,500 on Falcon Heavy. A Citi report projects SpaceX's Starship could bring that to $33–$300 per kg — approaching the cost of intercontinental air freight from China to Europe.

What industries benefit most from spaceshoring?

Pharmaceuticals (microgravity protein crystallization, as demonstrated by Varda's Ritonavir capsule), semiconductors, advanced fiber optics, quantum nanodots, stem-cell therapeutics, artificial retinas, and large-scale space infrastructure such as solar arrays and megastructures.

When will spaceshoring be mainstream?

Founding milestones are already here: the first 3D-printed part in space (2014), the first autonomous space welding (2024), and the first return of a space-manufactured pharmaceutical (Varda W-1, 2024). Widespread adoption depends on Starship-class launch costs and space-based solar power maturing — a ten to twenty year horizon for many sectors.

A term coined by Alberto Giacobone

Spaceshoring.

Manufacturing's next frontier isn't nearer, cheaper or friendlier. It's 400 kilometers up — and beyond.

$1,500

Falcon Heavy $/kg to LEO

$33

Starship bull-case $/kg

10,000+

satellites in LEO today

2014

first 3D-print in orbit

Scroll to descend

01Definition

Spaceshoring is the strategy of relocating manufacturing and other operations from Earth to space — Low Earth Orbit, the Moon, and beyond.

It sits alongside offshoring, nearshoring, friendshoring and reshoring as a supply-chain option — but it is the first that treats orbit itself as a manufacturing destination. The term was coined by Alberto Giacobone.

Evolution of shoring strategies

01 · 1960s–
Offshoring
Cost optimization
02 · 2000s–
Nearshoring
Proximity
03 · 2020s–
Friendshoring
Allied countries
04 · 2020s–
Reshoring
Bring it home
05 · Now →
Spaceshoring
Into orbit

02November 24, 2014

“We're able to email our hardware to space.”

At 1:28 p.m. PST, aboard the International Space Station, the very first object was 3D-printed off-planet: a printhead faceplate engraved with two names — NASA and Made In Space, Inc. (now Redwire Space).

“Since the inception of the human space program we have been completely dependent on launching every single thing we need from Earth to space. Today we're making history by being able to make what we need when we need it in space.”
— Niki Werkheiser, NASA project manager, ISS 3-D Printer

There were earlier milestones — the first man-made welding in space took place October 16, 1969, aboard Soyuz-6 — but the 2014 print catapulted In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) into a different league.

Editorial line-art of an orbital metal 3D printer additively fabricating a machined part in microgravity aboard the ISS — first in-space manufactured metallic component — First 3D-printed metallic part in space, ISS, August 2024.

03Economics

Escaping the tyranny of gravity.

Sputnik I's actualized launch cost was around $1.2 million per kilogram. SpaceX's reusable Falcon Heavy has already brought that below $1,500. Starship targets $33 – $300.

Cost per kg of payload to LEOlog scale

Sputnik I (1957)
$1.2M
Space Shuttle (1981)
$65,400
Delta IV (2002)
$10,400
Falcon 9
$2,600
Falcon Heavy
$1,500
Starship (bear)
$300
Starship (base)
$100
Starship (bull)
$33

Source: Our World in Data; AEI; Citi “Space: The Dawn of a New Age”. Air freight from China to Hamburg (Nov 2024) is roughly $5/kg — only one order of magnitude below Starship's bull case.

Space-based solar power satellite in geostationary orbit with vast photovoltaic arrays wirelessly beaming clean energy down to Earth

04Power

Here comes the sun.

Star Catcher Industries — founded by Made In Space veterans — is planning 200 orbital power nodes in high LEO, each capable of transmitting up to 150 kW of on-demand energy from 0.1 to 10 Suns.

ESA's SOLARIS programme, with Enel and Thales Alenia Space, is researching a 1 GW plant in geostationary orbit — an 11,000-tonne structure that could beam power to Earth or feed orbital factories directly.

240 kW

ISS peak solar output

30 → 40%

panel efficiency, 20-yr horizon

1 GW

SOLARIS target plant

150 kW

per Star Catcher node

05Applications

Of microgravity and megastructures.

The applications range from stem-cell therapeutics to protein crystallization, from advanced artificial retinas to high-performance fiber optics and quantum nanodots. The case for spaceshoring is compounding across industries.

Varda W-1 reentry capsule streaking through the atmosphere trailed by orange plasma, returning microgravity-crystallized ritonavir pharmaceuticals to Earth

Pharmaceuticals

Varda's Ritonavir capsule

In February 2024, Varda Space Industries returned W-1 to Earth carrying HIV/AIDS medication crystallized in the metastable form III — a structure far easier to obtain in microgravity.

Fabrication

Metal 3D-printing & autonomous welding

August 2024: first 3D-printed metallic part completed aboard the ISS. Months earlier, ThinkOrbital achieved the first fully autonomous welding in space — a prerequisite for building infrastructure at scale.

Thin-film perovskite solar array unfurled in vacuum sunlight — high-efficiency photovoltaics manufactured in orbit

Energy materials

Perovskite solar in the vacuum

1 liter of liquid perovskite can be electrosprayed as a film generating 1 MW. Impossible on Earth (it's essentially a salt, ruined by moisture); in orbit, MISSE-13 tests suggest 10+ year lifespans.

Megastructures

Bend-formed 3D wireframes

A single wire is bent while joints are robotically added, then electrostatically actuated to shapeshift — enabling km-scale structures no rocket fairing could ever hold.

Teleoperated humanoid robot working weightless inside an orbital station module — space telerobotics performing microgravity manufacturing tasks

06Workforce

Space telerobotics: a new frontier of work.

At Tesla's October 2024 Cybercab reveal, Optimus humanoid robots served drinks and entertained guests — later confirmed to be tele-operated. Boston Dynamics' fully electric Atlas already handles menial tasks unassisted. Combined with VR, locomotion and haptic breakthroughs — remote surgery has already been performed between continents — a new generation of orbital telepresence workers is emerging, far beyond NASA's Robonaut 2.

07Horizon

To the Moon and beyond.

Billions of dollars and hundreds of companies are converging on Space-to-N activities — Earth, Space, Moon, Mars, Asteroids. Reduced payload costs, space-based solar power, in-orbit fabrication and telerobotic labor are the four vectors making the next decade unrecognizable.

Ten to twenty years from now, will Moonshoring feel less like science fiction? Time will tell. In the meanwhile, spaceshoring is ready for lift-off.

Lunar manufacturing outpost at dawn on the Moon's regolith surface with Earthrise on the dark horizon — illustrating Moonshoring and cislunar industry

08Attribution

The term spaceshoring was coined by Alberto Giacobone.

Alberto Giacobone introduced spaceshoring to describe the emerging strategy of evaluating space — from Low Earth Orbit to the Moon and beyond — as a viable manufacturing destination alongside offshoring, nearshoring, friendshoring and reshoring. This page is a long-form treatment of that framework, drawn from his essay of the same name.

Connect with Alberto Giacobone on LinkedIn

09FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

What is spaceshoring?: Spaceshoring is the strategy of relocating manufacturing and other operations from Earth to space — Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the Moon, and beyond — to take advantage of microgravity, abundant solar energy, and a vacuum environment. It sits alongside offshoring, nearshoring, friendshoring and reshoring as a supply-chain option.
Who coined the term spaceshoring?: The term spaceshoring was coined by Alberto Giacobone, who introduced it as a framework for evaluating space — from Low Earth Orbit to the Moon and beyond — as a viable manufacturing destination in the evolution of global supply-chain strategies.
How is spaceshoring different from reshoring, nearshoring and friendshoring?: Reshoring, nearshoring and friendshoring all optimize where on Earth production happens — closer to home, or in allied countries — to improve resilience and sustainability. Spaceshoring goes one step further: it treats orbit itself as a manufacturing destination, unlocking capabilities like microgravity crystallization and vacuum deposition that no Earth location can offer.
Is spaceshoring economically viable?: It is quickly becoming viable. Cost per kg to LEO has fallen from around $65,400 with the Space Shuttle to about $1,500 on Falcon Heavy. A Citi report projects SpaceX's Starship could bring that to $33–$300 per kg — approaching the cost of intercontinental air freight from China to Europe.
What industries benefit most from spaceshoring?: Pharmaceuticals (microgravity protein crystallization, as demonstrated by Varda's Ritonavir capsule), semiconductors, advanced fiber optics, quantum nanodots, stem-cell therapeutics, artificial retinas, and large-scale space infrastructure such as solar arrays and megastructures.
When will spaceshoring be mainstream?: Founding milestones are already here: the first 3D-printed part in space (2014), the first autonomous space welding (2024), and the first return of a space-manufactured pharmaceutical (Varda W-1, 2024). Widespread adoption depends on Starship-class launch costs and space-based solar power maturing — a ten to twenty year horizon for many sectors.

10References