The privatization of space flight is a promising frontier for scientific exploration and the advancement of commerce, security and technology in outer space, but harnessing that potential requires infrastructure. Visiting speaker Dr. Ajay P. Malshe will discuss this and other Space 2.0 needs during the Porth Lecture at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The lecture, titled “In-space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing: Factories-in-Space for Space 2.0,” will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, at Hasselmann Alumni House. The lecture will also be available by Zoom. Visit go.mst.edu/porth2023 for the Zoom link.

Malshe’s talk will focus on the infrastructure required to facilitate space exploration. He will discuss the principals and design considerations necessary for infrastructure construction in space. 

Malshe says that orbital and extra-terrestrial manufacturing facilities, also known as factories-in-space “serve as critical nodes in the supply chain for the servicing, assembly and production of systems essential for space-based operations,” and this infrastructure will require a trained workforce.

Malshe is the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and at Purdue University. He is co-director of XMO – eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations and is inaugural director of Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratories. He is a recognized expert in advanced manufacturing, functional multimaterials, system integration and productization, and bio-inspired design that is multifunctional, resilient and sustainable.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Malshe holds fellowships with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, the American Society of Materials, the International Academy of Production Engineering, the Institute of Physics in London and the National Academy of Inventors. Among numerous honors, Malshe received an R&D 100 Award. He has trained over 1,400 graduate and undergraduate students, mentored numerous younger engineers in academia and industry, published over 225 peer-reviewed manuscripts and been awarded 28 patents.

About the Porth Lecture

The Harry William Lee Porth Distinguished Lecture Series in Engineering at Missouri S&T was created in memory of Porth, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from the university in 1911. Porth worked for the Nevada Hills Mining Co. and for Swift and Co. in Chicago. His wife, Virginia Lee Porth, provided for the establishment of the lecture series in her will.