German company Atmos Space Cargo tests returnable space container
The company Atmos Space Cargo has developed a container for space transportation that is designed to return safely to Earth. The first test will start soon.
Artist's impression of the Phoenix Space Capsule in space: valuable data, even if re-entry is unsuccessful
(Image: Atoms Space Cargo)
From Baden-Württemberg into space — and back again: the German space company Atmos Space Cargo will soon be testing its Phoenix transport system, which is designed to take payloads into space and, above all, back to earth.
Atmos Space Cargo is based in Lichtenau, a small town in Baden-WĂĽrttemberg, near Baden-Baden. The company has developed a space container, the Phoenix Return Capsule. The idea is for scientific experiments, for example, to be taken into space and then returned to earth autonomously.
The centerpiece is an approximately one-meter-high cylinder made of a carbon fiber-reinforced composite material, in which several experiments are housed in special boxes. The prototype can carry a payload of 100 kilograms; later versions will be able to carry more. These can remain in space for between three hours and three months and can be pressurized or unpressurized.
The heat shield is inflated
The company has developed a special heat shield to prevent the container from burning up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator (IAD) consists of a film that is inflated to form a kind of cushion. It serves as a heat shield and also slows down the Phoenix during descent. An insulating layer ensures that the samples do not get warmer than 37 degrees Celsius.
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Four payloads will be on board for the first mission. These include a radiation detector from the Institute of Space Medicine at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and a bioreactor from the British company Frontier Space.
Phoenix will orbit the Earth twice and then attempt re-entry. The company expects that this will not be successful either. Nevertheless, the test flight should provide valuable data for further missions.
Life science experiments in space
Atmos Space Cargo sees this as a user of the system primarily in the life sciences, for example with experiments with monoclonal antibodies, stem cells, organoids and protein crystallization, as the company describes on its website. “Launching experiments has become easier and cheaper, but returning them to Earth remains a challenge due to high costs, long lead times and problems with repeatability and reliability. The solution is to offer a return service specifically tailored to life sciences that is highly affordable and reliable, with regular flights and short lead times.”
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Phoenix will launch into space on US space company SpaceX's Bandwagon 3 mission, Atmos Space Cargo announced. Bandwagon is the name SpaceX gives to missions as part of its Smallsat Rideshare Program, in which small satellites are placed in sun-synchronous orbits or orbits inclined by around 45 degrees. Bandwagon-3 is scheduled to launch this year, in April at the earliest.
(wpl)
