Manufacturing apparatus for use in a micro-gravity environment

A manufacturing apparatus to be used in a micro-gravity environment, when installed in a room of a manned artificial satellite, the apparatus having a top and a bottom, facing each other, and having a front panel disposed between the top and the bottom, and being secured to the satellite in such a manner that a vertical axis extends through the top and bottom, said apparatus comprising:

• a constant-temperature tank having therein a plurality of housing sections which are separated from each other by thermal insulation walls,
• a plurality of manufacturing units each including a cell mount having a plane on which a plurality crystallization cell blocks for growing therein bio-polymer crystals are arranged in line,
• each of the housing sections housing therein a pair of the manufacturing units, and supporting the manufacturing units in such a manner that the respective planes of the cell mounts face each other and are generally parallel to the vertical axis and generally perpendicular with the front panel and so that the manufacturing units are movable in the direction parallel to the planes of the cell mounts so as to be drawn out from the apparatus through an opening provided in the front panel, and
• an observation facility disposed between the planes of the cell mounts of the pair of manufacturing units, the observation facility including a detector and a mechanism for moving the detector to scan respective plurality of the crystallization cell blocks on the planes of the cell mounts of the pair of manufacturing units so that the plurality of the crystallization cell blocks are observed by the detector.