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Dead End: GAMMA-ALF Glass Fiber Manufacturing (106680)

Project: Glass Alloy Manufacturing Machine - Acoustic Levitation Furnace (GAMMA-ALF)
FO Project ID: 106680
Company: Made in Space, Inc. (acquired by Redwire June 2020)
Period: 2020-10-01 – 2022-04-30
TRL: 3 → 6 (parabolic flight)
Investigated: 2026-04-05

What looked interesting

A second Made in Space FO project, following their canonical ISS 3D printing success (91394, TRL4→9). Acoustic levitation manufacturing of glass preforms for fiber optics — an exotic microgravity manufacturing technique with potentially high commercial value if it led to high-performance optical fiber products. Redwire's NYSE listing meant dollars could be tracked.

What I found

GAMMA-ALF did not progress to ISS deployment after parabolic flight testing. There is no public evidence of the acoustic levitation furnace flying to ISS, producing commercial fiber, or becoming a Redwire product line.

Redwire's actual glass/optical focus is ZBLAN — a fluoride-based optical fiber with 100× better performance than silica, produced on the ISS since 2017. ZBLAN uses the MIS Fiber machine (an entirely different technology from acoustic levitation). ZBLAN was the commercial product; GAMMA-ALF was a parallel experimental approach that did not progress.

PI Alicia Carey left Redwire and is now Formulation Manager at Johns Hopkins APL (Space Exploration Sector). Her departure suggests the project team did not continue this work inside Redwire.

Why it dead-ended

  1. ZBLAN already proven: Made in Space had been manufacturing ZBLAN on ISS since 2017. A competing acoustic levitation approach faced a high bar to displace or complement an established ISS product.
  2. TRL6 via parabolic only: Parabolic flight gives ~20 seconds of microgravity. Glass preform manufacturing likely needs much longer sustained microgravity to produce useful products. The path from parabolic TRL6 to ISS deployment was long.
  3. Redwire acquisition priorities: Redwire went public via SPAC in 2021 and focused capital on proven revenue streams (AMF, ZBLAN, crystal growth). A TRL6 experimental furnace was not a priority.

Lessons

  • A company's second FO project is not guaranteed to follow the same path as its first
  • TRL3→6 via parabolic flight is a low bar — it proves the physics work at 20-second intervals, not that a manufacturing product is viable
  • Redwire's portfolio has multiple manufacturing approaches; portfolio rationalization post-SPAC likely killed lower-TRL experiments
  • GAMMA-ALF appears in TechPort but not in any public Redwire product documentation or press releases

Sources

  • TechPort 106680 (live API, 2026-04-05)
  • Web search: GAMMA-ALF Made in Space Redwire (2026-04-05)
  • Factories in Space (factoriesinspace.com): Redwire profile shows ZBLAN, AMF, crystals — no acoustic levitation furnace
  • ISS National Lab: "Exotic Glass Fibers from Space: The Race to Manufacture ZBLAN"
  • No public press release or product page for GAMMA-ALF found