So, what will it manufacture? I don’t follow developments in this field, but as far as I know decades of work in Skylab, SpaceLab and the ISS hadn’t delivered a clear case where lifting raw materials into space and bringing back manufactured goods can be profitable.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_manufacturing" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_manufacturing</a> seems to agree, with phrases such as <i>There are thought to be a number of useful products that can potentially be manufactured in space and result in an economic benefit.</i><p>Or are they aiming for a long-term goal to keep manufactured goods in space?
> Varda’s goal is to unlock the benefits of microgravity -- which can only be found for sustained periods in space -- for manufacturing novel materials, like bio-printed organs or specialized semiconductors. The startup’s bet is that the potential market for such materials is high enough to make the effort worth it.