Simulation Toolkit to Address Challenges of Welding, Manufacturing in Space
NASA Award Backs QuesTek Effort to Optimize Materials for Low-Gravity Conditions
A simulation toolkit designed to predict how manufacturing processes behave in the absence of gravity — and to optimize the materials and methods astronauts may one day rely on to repair and fabricate parts in space — is being developed under a NASA Ignite Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award granted to QuesTek Innovations.
“Being selected for this NASA Ignite award is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of in-space manufacturing.”
Jason Sebastian, QuesTek
The Evanston, Illinois-based materials technology company was among 15 firms selected nationally by NASA as part of an approximately $16.3 million seed investment in early-stage space technology announced in April 2026. Each Phase I award carries up to $150,000 over a six-month performance period.
QuesTek’s project, designated ASTRO-Grav — Alloy Simulation Toolkit for Robust Optimization in Low Gravity — will build on the company’s existing ICMD® materials simulation software platform to create a modeling and optimization framework that integrates multi-fidelity simulations with high-throughput experiments. The toolkit is intended to identify optimal alloy compositions and manufacturing parameters tailored specifically for low-gravity conditions.
“Being selected for this NASA Ignite award is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of in-space manufacturing,” said Jason Sebastian, EVP at QuesTek Innovations. “ASTRO-Grav will advance NASA’s long-term vision for sustainable operations in orbit, on the Moon, and eventually on Mars.”
The practical challenge the work addresses is significant. Many manufacturing processes — including welding — behave differently in microgravity, complicating repair and fabrication tasks that crews aboard deep-space missions may need to perform routinely. As NASA described in its announcement of the award, future astronauts on long-duration missions “may need to be welders, fixing and replacing parts as they explore low Earth orbit or deep space.” The ASTRO-Grav toolkit is designed to use computer modeling to predict how the properties of welded materials change in space and to optimize the processes used.
NASA’s SBIR Ignite program is structured to emphasize commercial applicability alongside agency mission support. Selected firms must demonstrate both the technical feasibility of their proposed innovation and a credible path to commercialization that extends beyond NASA’s own use. Phase I awardees have the option to transition to Phase II, which can provide up to $850,000 over up to 24 months.
QuesTek’s ICMD platform — Integrated Computational Materials Design — is an established framework for computational alloy and process design that the company has previously applied to aerospace, defense, and industrial applications on Earth. The ASTRO-Grav project represents an extension of that capability into the space environment, where material behavior can differ substantially from ground conditions due to the elimination of gravitational forces that normally influence processes such as solidification, fluid flow in molten metals, and weld pool dynamics.
The toolkit is intended to serve NASA’s broader goal of enabling sustainable, long-duration operations beyond low Earth orbit. As the agency pursues lunar surface activities under the Artemis program and looks toward eventual crewed missions to Mars, the ability to manufacture and repair hardware in situ — rather than relying entirely on Earth-supplied parts — becomes increasingly important to mission resilience and crew safety.
The NASA SBIR Ignite initiative is administered under the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and is part of America’s Seed Fund, the nation’s largest source of early-stage, non-dilutive funding for innovative technologies. The program targets small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.