GoKawiilBesxar tests orbital chip-material factory using SpaceX Falcon 9 booster flights
Startup Besxar, founded by former OpenAI staffer Ashley Pilipiszyn, has arranged with SpaceX to fly small canisters called 'fabships' aboard Falcon 9 boosters to test manufacturing semiconductor precursor materials in the vacuum of space. The company's first two units flew on a July Starlink mission, surviving launch and exposing wafer samples to space despite a data system glitch in one canister. Besxar has raised roughly $14 million, including a $9 million seed round led by Dauntless Ventures and Overture VC, to pursue a dozen planned test flights.
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Traditional chip fabrication requires massive, expensive clean rooms to keep out contaminants, and Besxar's bet is that the vacuum of space can naturally replace that infrastructure at lower cost. If proven at scale, reusable rockets like Falcon 9 could turn orbital manufacturing from a novelty into a practical industrial process, reshaping how advanced semiconductor materials are produced.
- Besxar is testing semiconductor material production in orbit using SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters as repeat carriers.
- The startup has raised about $14 million, including a $9 million seed round, to fund a dozen planned orbital test flights.
- Early results showed flown samples had less particulate contamination than materials processed on Earth.
Estes Alpha III Model Rocket Starter Set — Reusable rockets flying over and over is the whole premise behind Besxar's orbital chip factory, and this classic starter set lets you run your own launch-and-recover campaign in a nearby field. It comes as a complete kit with launch pad and controller, so you can go from unboxing to countdown fast. A great hands-on way to get a feel for the flight cadence that makes space manufacturing thinkable.
See Estes Alpha III Model Rocket Starter Set on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: techcrunch.com — Tim Fernholz, 2026-09-09
Published there as: “Besxar is building an orbital semiconductor factory, one SpaceX rocket at a time”
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