Frontier Space shares results from first European private life-science mission in orbit aboard ATMOS capsule

Frontier Space has carried out its first orbital mission in partnership with ATMOS Space Cargo, to test the performance of its SpaceLab Mark 1 platform. The kit was launched aboard a SpaceX Bandwagon-3 flight and demonstrated the reliability of core systems for microgravity research

Frontier Space – the UK-based space biotechnology company that spun out from Cranfield University – has completed its inaugural orbital mission in collaboration with ATMOS Space Cargo GmbH, confirming the readiness of its SpaceLab Mark 1 research platform. The flight, launched on 21 April 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Bandwagon-3 and carried within ATMOS’s PHOENIX capsule, demonstrated the viability of key systems that underpin Frontier Space’s project of in-space science and biomanufacturing.

The mission centred on the deployment of SpaceLab Mark 1, a compact and self-contained orbital laboratory designed to support scientific research in microgravity. The first orbital flight had the primary objective to validate essential subsystems, including power supply, computing, imaging and communications. All operated as intended, providing proof of concept for future missions.

“Early orbital data like this accelerates discovery. Each payload we host and each dataset we downlink shortens the path from concept to application,” said Marta Oliveira, chief operating officer of ATMOS Space Cargo.

“For our partners, this means the ability to test and adapt ideas in orbit quickly – an essential advantage for research and commercial teams – building the next generation of products,” she added.

Frontier Space also partnered with Professor Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro of Imperial College London, who is director of the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein and Microbial Food Hub, to test the performance of freeze-dried biological samples in orbit. Although recovery of the samples was not part of the mission design, successful integration and the stability of the samples in Low Earth Orbit were confirmed through on-board monitoring data.

This demonstration has provided an early indication that such material can be reliably carried in private capsules, heralding more accessible biological research in the microgravity environment. Re-entry of biological material has traditionally been restricted by cost, with limited return options, but this mission represents the first attempt by the privately developed European capsule to test the biological payload re-entry capability.

“We have dreamed of a future where humanity sets out into the dark expanses of space. Yet carrying enough food, medicines and materials for that journey would be at unimaginable in cost and weight.

“This mission shows how physics, engineering, biotechnology and space science can converge on that challenge.

“If just a handful of cultivated cells could provide all our food, pharmaceuticals, fuels and bioplastics using freely available resources, we would be one step closer to that future,” said Dr Ledesma-Amaro.

“This mission gave us the confirmation we needed that our baseline systems work in orbit, and it’s also helped highlight where we can improve for next time,” said Aqeel Shamsul, chief executive officer of Frontier Space.

“We are iterating our technology rapidly and already making updates to our systems based on what we saw,” he added.

Future iterations of SpaceLab will expand on these foundations with increased focus on advanced data management, biological sample return and payload scalability. The company is positioning itself as a UK leader in space biotechnology, with ambitions to support pharmaceutical research, biomanufacturing and sustainable food production in orbit. Its modular platform technologies – SpaceLab and Xtreme Space Bioreactor – are intended to create flexible infrastructure for research and development in space.