Abstract
The turn of the millennia has seen the aerospace industry undergo a paradigm shift, transitioning from primarily being dominated and governed by governmental bodies and military commissions to a new frontier: the new space economy with innovative activities led primarily by private entities. This shift, coupled with the advancement in manufacturing processes, has led to the advent of innovative technologies that could redefine this ecosystem, such as factory in space (FIS). FIS dictates the deployment of technology that combines manufacturing and assembly capabilities suitable for extraterrestrial exploration. This provides a sustainable and autonomous production source outside the Earth’s atmosphere, which promises several benefits, such as reducing the number of launches and associated costs. This paper presents a preliminary model-based systems engineering (MBSE) Capella model for a low Earth orbit (LEO) manufacturing system. Key stakeholders are identified, and their interactions with the crucial components of the factory are established. A preliminary validation is performed by interactions with industrial experts. Finally, the limitation of the model is highlighted, and areas of further research are discussed.