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Space Forge Site Visit

Space Forge- Technological Innovation, Reduce Society Consumption of Energy, Investment supporting Global Transition

Reaching New Heights: Wiltshire Pension Fund Visits Space Forge

In December 2024, Wiltshire Pension Fund's team had the opportunity to visit Space Forge - a UK based company in our venture capital fund with World Fund which sits in our Clops portfolio. Space Forge is an innovative in-orbit manufacturing company that produces high quality materials and specialises in low impact landings. By utilising space's unique environment, they can create manufacturing conditions that are impossible to replicate on Earth. The visit aimed to gain deeper insight into their net-zero manufacturing technology.

Picture of Wiltshire Pension Fund's Investments Team

The Team visited Space Forge's site in Cardiff, Wales, and were welcomed by CEO Joshua and CTO Andrew. The team were given a tour around their lab and workshop where Space Forge's flagship satellite - the ForgeStar - is being developed. ForgeStar is a reusable satellite designed for manufacturing materials for semiconductors and pharmaceutical industries. The unique conditions in space, such as the extreme temperature ranges and zero gravity, produces materials of the highest purity.  

The satellite's heat shield is made of space grade plastic - the same material used on the Hubble telescope! The technology being developed by Space Forge aims to ensure the high-quality minerals silicon returns to Earth safely. Making this possible is a diverse talent of over 70 people coming from all across the world but, particularly tapping into the expertise of the local area- offering apprenticeship schemes and PhD programmes with Swansea University.

Space Forge is the only company in the UK that can produce gallium nitride and silicon carbide and is therefore of strategic importance. This engineering this is supported by NATO's innovation fund and the UK Space Agency, along with other partners which assist on the security side, and World Fund supports the commercial side.

To test the product, prototypes are packaged up in contained crates and sent to Europe where they undergo testing to mimic the conditions of space - this is the only testing site that can match these conditions for a sustained period. The satellites will be sent in a secondary contained package to the Space X launch site to be deployed into orbit.

Picture of the satellite created by Space Forge

Upon completing the mission, which can last between 10 days and several months, the materials are returned safely, thanks to Space Forge's specialisation in low impact landings. The purity of the returned materials means that the semiconductors produced (using crystals) could result in EV chargers being almost twice as efficient.

Our investment in Space Forge via World Fund contributes to our Clops strategy by to reducing industrial carbon emissions while generating strong returns.  In essence, Space Forge endeavours to reduce the amount of energy society consumes by revolutionising the materials the modern world relies upon. During the visit we discussed Space Forge's future opportunities and, despite the many regulatory hurdles in the UK, the production of high-quality materials and a reusable satellite platform, places Space Forge as leaders in technological innovation that reduces the global carbon footprint.

Space Forge is targeting its first ForgeStar deployment in the coming year!

Jenny, Krystie, and James accepting the award for Innovation in Investments from the LGC Awards 2024

Conclusion

Our visit to Space Forge reaffirmed the rationale behind World Fund's investment and is exemplary of our innovative Clops portfolio, a key factor to winning the Investment Innovation Award at the Local Government Chronicle Investment Awards 2024! We are proud to be investing in UK based companies which support a global transition and drive technological innovation without compromising financial returns.

Space Forge- Technological Innovation, Reduce Society Consumption of Energy, Investment supporting Global Transition

 

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