For most of the space age, spacecraft have been designed around a simple assumption: everything must be manufactured, assembled and tested on Earth before surviving launch as a complete system. Emerging capabilities in robotic servicing, in-space assembly and in-space manufacturing are beginning to challenge that assumption, creating new possibilities for how spacecraft and large structures are designed, built and operated.

This presentation will explore three areas where engineering design is beginning to move beyond the constraints of launch. First, how designing spacecraft for in-space servicing could enable repair, upgrade and life extension; second, how designing specifically for robotic assembly could enable structures larger and more adaptable than can be launched conventionally; and finally, how manufacturing directly in space could exploit the space environment and ultimately remove some launch constraints altogether. Drawing on current developments and practical engineering challenges, the talk will consider what engineers need to do differently when launch is no longer the end of the manufacturing process.