SpaceFiber

Why it matters

ZBLAN fiber can carry light with lower loss and over a wider range than standard silica fiber, but gravity causes defects when it is made on Earth. Making it in orbit tests whether space manufacturing can produce a useful physical product.

How the technology works

Equipment on the ISS melts ZBLAN glass rods and draws them into fiber. Drawn in microgravity, the fiber should have fewer of the defects that gravity causes on the ground.

Early rods came from the University of Adelaide, and the spools return to Earth for testing.