Japanese photography giant Nikon buys a controlling stake in the American startup Morf3D, which operates in the field of space engineering.

Nikon gets a seat on the company's Board of Directors, and also begins integrating its aerospace engineering specialists into projects.

Morf3D company was founded in 2015 and specialized in 3D printing of equipment used in the aerospace industry. The company, with the help of 3D printing and the manufacture of spare parts for satilites, has achieved significant optimization and acceleration of equipment manufacturing processes. Aerospace products and components for LEO satellites require lightness, strength and a minimum number of joints and bolts, and Nikon optics meet these criteria. Nikon's technology for manufacturing optics and spare parts for cameras is similar to 3D printing technology and the production of monolithic and seamless parts.

The deal is valued at 90 million. Nikon's participation in the field of aerospace engineering will undoubtedly give an impetus to the development of the entire small satellite market, which, according to experts, is growing rapidly and will grow to 7 billion by 2025.

The Elon Musk SpaceX company plans to cover the entire earth with wireless Internet using 12 thousand low-orbit satellites. In turn, the Amazon company will launch 3 thousand satellites for communication.