---
title: "Space Company Wants to Turn Orbital Junk Into Space Stations"
description: "A company called Nanoracks has a plan to gather up orbital space junk and convert it into new space stations through in-orbit manufacturing."
date: "2020-11-11"
modified: "2020-11-11"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-company-turn-orbital-junk-space-stations"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "orbital manufacturing"
  - "space junk"
  - "space station"
  - "the digest"
---

# Space Company Wants to Turn Orbital Junk Into Space Stations

![A company called Nanoracks has a plan to gather up orbital space junk and convert it into new space stations through in-orbit manufacturing.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/space-company-turn-orbital-junk-space-stations.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Nanoracks\</em\>*

## Scrap Metal

Even as SpaceX works to make reusable rockets the norm, space launches still leave chunks of garbage in orbit.

To put all of that often-hazardous debris to good use, *[Wired](<https://www.wired.com/story/the-plan-to-turn-scrapped-rockets-into-space-stations/>)* [has new details](<https://www.wired.com/story/the-plan-to-turn-scrapped-rockets-into-space-stations/>) about a company called Nanoracks, which [has a plan](<https://futurism.com/startup-reuse-old-rocket-parts-space>) to scoop space junk up and turn it into new space stations and habitats — with all the manufacturing done in orbit.

## Reuse, Recycle

Nanoracks CEO Jeffrey Manber is particularly keen on abandoned upper stages because they have many of the characteristics that would make for a secure, successful space station, according to *Wired*.

But that level of manufacturing and refurbishing has never been accomplished in orbit before. So as a proof of concept mission, a Nanoracks robot is hitching a ride on a SpaceX rideshare next May, where it will practice drilling through the same metal that makes up rocket fuel tanks in a sealed chamber — the first time, *Wired* reports, that metal will be cut in the vacuum of space.

"NASA has looked at the idea of refurbishing fuel tanks several times," Manber told *Wired*. "But it was always abandoned, usually because the technology wasn’t there."

## Orbital Prospectors

If his plan works, Manber says that he thinks the messaging around cleaning up space junk will shift away from being [a grim scientific imperative](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/most-geosynchronous-space-junk-never-catalogued>) toward being a proverbial gold mine.

"When I look 15 or 20 years ahead, there will be scout missions looking for good things to salvage," he told *Wired*. "You’re going to have prospectors looking for parts and using them for in-space assembly. It’s going to be one of the big markets of the future."

**READ MORE:** [The Plan to Turn Scrapped Rockets Into Space Stations](<https://www.wired.com/story/the-plan-to-turn-scrapped-rockets-into-space-stations/>) \[*Wired*\]

**More on space debris:** *[Research: Most Geosynchronous Space Junk Has Never Been Catalogued](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/most-geosynchronous-space-junk-never-catalogued>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)