News & Media
Featured Press Releases
Media Coverage
May 11, 2023
Building Space Foundries to Enable the Next Industrial Revolution – Tech Leader Talk
This interview is part of the Space Tech Innovation event where Space Tech Leaders share the latest trends and key insights to grow any tech company.
Today I’m talking with Joe Pawelski, who is the Chief Technical Officer and Co-Founder of CisLunar Industries.
​
Joe and the team at CisLunar Industries are building and operating space foundries™ to enable the next industrial revolution. In particular, he works with in-space metal processing and space debris recycling.
Joe has a passion for figuring out things people say are impossible.
May 2 & May 15, 2023
Two-part Series about the ISS by BBC Future
Part 1: A fiery end? How the ISS will end its life in orbit
Part 2: What will replace the International Space Station?
​
In late 2022, a group of companies including CisLunar Industries and Astroscale U.S. Inc. in the US presented an idea to The White House to do just that. That could include melting some of the metal in the truss of the station to be re-used to build new structures or vehicles in space, or even detaching entire modules and repurposing them for other space stations.
"We definitely think there's an opportunity here," says Gary Calnan, CFA, CisLunar's chief executive. "We want to build a salvage yard in space."
April 23, 2023
How an Aussie thruster is putting a rocket up
the world of space propulsion
"And the company announced its first sale, and first export, last Thursday, for
the device’s incorporation into a US $1.7 million project led by CisLunar Industries which will see space junk recycled – in space – into the solid metal
fuel used by the Neumann Thruster so that more space junk can then be
collected."
March 20, 2023
Industry sees missed opportunity in deorbiting ISS
“As technology matures, certainly in the next decade we’re going to get to the point where we’re going to be able to reuse and recycle a lot of these materials,” said Ron Lopez, president and managing director of Astroscale U.S., a company working on satellite servicing and debris removal technologies. “Instead of letting it burn up and lose all of that economic value, you take it to a foundry in space” and break it down into raw materials, he said during a Satellite 2023 panel March 16.
That sounds like science fiction, he acknowledged, but he noted Astroscale recently won a Small Business Innovative Research award from the U.S. Space Force, in partnership with CisLunar Industries, to test technologies for repurposing debris into materials like propellant.
May 19, 2022
NASA Funded R&D Projects Aim to Recycle Defunct Satellites, Upper Stages
NASA has decided to continue funding two research and development projects aimed at recycling the enormous amount of waste humanity has deposited in Earth orbit, including spent rocket upper stages, defunct satellites and random pieces of floating debris.
May 19, 2022
First Structural Metal Cutting In Space Demo By Nanoracks + Maxar Will Be Aboard The SpaceX Transporter 5 Rideshare Mission
Cislunar Industries is partnering on a concept to harvest, cut, refine, and reuse metal from existing space junk.
May 19, 2022
$8.5 million Advanced Industries Awards Accelerate 38 Colorado Startups and Researchers
Advances in healthcare technology, data security and intelligence, energy storage and manufacturing all received a boost this week from the Global Business Development division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant Program.
January 22, 2022
Scientists researching ways to recycle space debris
CBS Saturday Morning featured CisLunar Industries and our work to enable space debris recycling for propellant and building materials. They did a great job also highlighting the larger ecosystem of companies that make the in-space resource economy a reality in the near future.
November 23, 2021
Is THIS the key to clearing the skies of space junk? Scientists reveal plans to transform debris in Earth's orbit into ROCKET FUEL and set up a 'gas station in space'
-
Scientists have revealed plans to transform debris in Earth's orbit into rocket fuel
-
It would involve satellites capturing bits of space junk, storing it and cutting it up
-
A space foundry would then melt the debris into metal rods that are used for fuel
-
New propulsion system ionises metal and creates thrust to move objects in orbit
November 8, 2021
A Colorado company wants to recycle space junk
A recycling truck in space could solve a growing problem: trash in Earth’s orbit-- junk that threatens everything from GPS satellites to the space station. Last week the U.S. Space Force announced a plan to promote manufacturing and recycling in space. That’s an opportunity for Denver-based CisLunar Industries, which is working on space recycling. CEO Gary Calnan explains the technology and Colorado School of Mines professor Angel Abbud-Madrid weighs in on the potential implications.
May 24, 2021
Twenty-three Small Businesses Selected to Participate in Catalyst Collision Event
In its second virtual Catalyst Collision Event, June 22-25, the Catalyst Accelerator will showcase the dual-use, innovative space technologies of 23 small businesses to government and commercial scouts and will showcase an additional 7 companies in Friday’s Tech Gallery. Sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RV), the four-day pitch event will spark connections and collaborations between startups and small businesses, helping them gain traction in the space sector.
April 7, 2021
NASA Funds 36 Space 3D Printing Projects— Here Are the 15 Most Exciting
2. Metal Foundries in SpaceCisLunar Industries is a space technology startup hoping to build metal foundries in space. The key to the technology is the use of debris as an input resource, enabling in-space manufacturing and accelerating space industrialization. As a first-time recipient of NASA’s SBIR grant, CisLunar wants to develop an in-space recycling system that transforms spent components and large structures into repurposed, useful products for on-orbit 3D printing, construction, and refueling. The final output will be a uniform metal rod or ingot as feedstock for use in multiple potential applications, like AM.