It will then follow this with another mission to demonstrate that space-made crystals can be safely returned to Earth. 

Ahead of the trial, investment provided by the Nato Innovation Fund is helping to finance construction of the Forgestar 2 platform, which will be used in the second test.

Space Forge lost a satellite last year that was meant to be launched into space by Virgin Orbit’s “Start Me Up” mission, which failed. 

The announcement came as the Nato Innovation Fund revealed the first four businesses it is backing. 

Member states of the alliance announced the fund in 2022 following Russia’s attack on Ukraine and tasked it with nurturing “nascent technologies that have the power to transform our security in the decades to come”.

Of the first four start-ups the fund has confirmed investments in, three are British.

Alongside Space Forge, they include Bristol-based carbon fibre specialist iCOMAT, London-based chip designer Fractile and Germany-based ARX Robotics, which makes unmanned ground vehicles. 

Andrea Traversone, the fund’s managing partner, said: “Our mandate is to back disruptive technologies to support defence, security and resilience in the alliance and these four companies are all good examples of that.

“But the most important thing we want to do is help these companies get their technologies adopted by our investors, the 24 member nations.”

He said the fund was holding talks with hundreds of other start-ups about potential investments and expected to announce more such deals in the coming months and years. 

The fund operates on a 15-year horizon but does not disclose the size of its investments.