Objectives of the service
Producing certain biological products on Earth is limited by gravity: sedimentation, convection and hydrostatic pressure constrain how cells form three-dimensional tissue, how proteins crystallise and how biomaterials assemble. Microgravity removes these constraints, but access to it has been slow, costly and dependent on the International Space Station.
This feasibility study, led by Yuri GmbH, assesses the commercial viability of bioengineering in microgravity for the pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and nutrition sectors. It identifies the applications — among them tissue models, organoids and biomaterials — where microgravity delivers a measurable advantage in product quality, scalability or cost over terrestrial production and it validates demand from prospective customers.
The activity follows two complementary tracks. A product-based track co-develops high-value biological products with the study's industrial partners, who act as both customers and co-developers. A service-based track builds on Yuri's Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) model, which lets customers and scientists run on-demand experiments in orbit, tailored to their own objectives. Together, the two tracks map a route from early experiments to a sustainable European in-orbit bioengineering ecosystem.
Users and their needs
The study engages organisations that already need biological results microgravity can improve. They fall into three communities:
- Pharmaceutical and biotech groups seeking better disease models, protein structures and formulations to shorten development timelines and reduce animal testing.
- Healthcare and regenerative-medicine developers working on organoids, tissue models and biomaterials that mature more faithfully in three dimensions without gravitational stress.
- Food and nutrition producers exploring microgravity-adapted strains and processes for sustainable ingredients.
These users share a common set of needs, confirmed through Letters of Intent gathered during the activity:
- Predictable, affordable and repeatable access to microgravity, independent of ISS scheduling.
- Fast return of intact biological samples to European soil for analysis.
- Automated, well-characterised laboratory hardware that removes the need for in-house space expertise.
- A clear commercial and regulatory pathway from experiment to product.
The challenge for the project is to prove these needs can be met reliably and at a price that supports a profitable business model. The targeted users are located across Europe, the United States and Asia, reflecting the consortium's European roots and international vocation.
Service/ system concept
The concept is an end-to-end "Science-as-a-Service" for biology in microgravity, delivered through Yuri's Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) model: the customer arrives with a scientific question, and the consortium manages the full mission on their behalf.
That mission runs as a continuous loop of seven stages: upstream research and mission design; hardware development and system integration; launch logistics and space operations; in-orbit experimentation; return logistics and sample recovery; data analysis, interpretation and customer delivery; and commercialisation and long-term support — all coordinated with the relevant space agencies and regulatory authorities.
At its core is Yuri's ScienceTaxi, an automated space incubator and bioreactor system that hosts many independent experiments per mission, controlling temperature, handling fluids and collecting data in real time. The customer needs no space hardware or expertise; the facility is configured for their biology on the ground.
Across every stage, the company's processes and operations are optimised to preserve the conditions each payload requires so that samples reach orbit, mature and return in the state the science demands.
Space Added Value
The AURORA activity relies on human spaceflight technologies — orbital launch, automated in-orbit laboratories and re-entry vehicles — to place biology in sustained microgravity, a condition that cannot be reproduced for meaningful durations on Earth.
Microgravity can offer advantages that terrestrial methods struggle to match. Without gravity-driven sedimentation and convection, cells can form more representative three-dimensional structures, organoids and tissue models may mature more faithfully, protein crystals can grow with improved order, and some biomaterials and microbial strains may show properties not seen in normal gravity. Ground-based simulators such as clinostats and random-positioning machines only approximate these effects and are not a full substitute for real orbital exposure.
The distinctive value comes from combining these assets into one flexible, recurring service: Yuri's automated Lab-as-a-Service platform for the in-orbit work, paired with ATMOS Space Cargo's PHOENIX return capsule. Planning missions on demand allows a higher flight cadence and turnaround tailored to each customer. Unlike current options, which lean heavily on the International Space Station, this keeps the full value chain — launch, experimentation and sample return — more flexible and within Europe.
Current Status
The AURORA feasibility study is ongoing. Yuri GmbH leads the activity, supported by ATMOS Space Cargo as launch and return partner and by a group of biotech companies whose Letters of Intent, sector knowledge and scientific expertise help define the study's technical roadmap across the pharmaceutical, healthcare and food sectors.
Work is now focused on mapping the most promising applications against the quality, scalability and cost advantages microgravity can provide, and on building the value propositions and business models that connect scientific opportunity with commercial demand.
This assessment draws on Yuri's record of more than 150 payloads flown with partners such as NASA, ESA, GSK and Charité Berlin, and on ATMOS's PHOENIX re-entry demonstrations.
Prime Contractor(s)
