A prototype space factory that can produce materials impossible to make on Earth will be on the first rocket to launch from UK soil later this summer.

Welsh startup Space Forge will use microgravity and the vacuum of space to make stronger, lighter metal alloys and super-efficient semiconductors.

The company told Sky News that components made in orbit could be in widespread use in as little as five years, in everything from aircraft engines to the electricity grid.

To test its plan for bringing materials back to Earth, the company will launch a satellite on a rocket due to lift off from Spaceport Cornwall in September.

The spaceport, the first in Europe, is based at Newquay Airport.

A Virgin Orbit Boeing 747 will take off from the same runway used by holiday jets, carry a rocket under its wing and release it at 35,000ft.

Andrew Bacon, a co-founder of Space Forge, said the launch will turn the UK into a “true space superpower”, with the ability to make and deploy world-leading satellite technology.

Read more: Sky News