Space Tango is developing ST-42, an autonomous microgravity manufacturing facility designed to operate in low Earth orbit and reenter Earth's atmosphere. Credit: Space Tango

For decades, the space community has sought the “killer app” for microgravity research: the project that, once and for all, will demonstrate work that can only be done in space and has tremendous value on Earth that is enough to sustain investment in the field. So far, that search has come up empty.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...