Objectives of the service
Biopharma and advanced materials organisations need faster, more repeatable and more accessible ways to evaluate whether microgravity creates useful scientific or industrial effects. Existing access routes to space often involve long lead times, limited iteration cadence, complex integration and high costs, which makes them difficult to align with commercial research and development cycles.
RSAS focuses on defining and validating application services that use microgravity as a differentiating environment for research and production. The project starts from ALATYR’s Ground Lab and simulated microgravity capabilities to engage users early, test selected workflows, refine service requirements and identify which use cases justify later orbital demonstrations.
The activity covers customer validation, service definition, technical feasibility, business viability and proof-of-concept work. It prioritises the most credible near-term service opportunities before considering progressively more ambitious deployment routes, including automated free-flyer missions and, at a later stage, robotic orbital facilities.
Users and their needs
The targeted users are organisations active in biopharma research, biotechnology, oncology research, bioengineering and advanced materials. The study involves selected members of the ALATYR User Community, including pharmaceutical, biotech, academic and industrial actors already engaged with ALATYR through technical and commercial exchanges, confidentiality frameworks or proof-of-concept activities.
Their main needs are:
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faster experimental cycles than conventional space access routes
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early evidence that microgravity or simulated microgravity creates measurable value compared with terrestrial methods
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repeatable workflows compatible with industrial research practices
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clear service interfaces, pricing assumptions and operational responsibilities
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protection of proprietary protocols, biological materials, experimental data and intellectual property
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a credible path from ground validation to future orbital demonstration
For biopharma users, priority topics include organoids, tumoroids, drug screening, ageing-related models and sequencing workflows. For advanced materials users, the study captures production logic, handling constraints and service requirements for high-value materials such as specialty optical fibres.
Service/ system concept
RSAS uses a staged service-development approach. The first service layer is based on ALATYR’s lab and simulated microgravity platform, which is used as an application pre-screening tool. This allows users to test protocols, refine biological workflows and identify candidate applications before committing to more complex orbital activities.
The service concept includes three main elements. First, ALATYR works with users to translate scientific or industrial objectives into service requirements. Second, selected workflows are tested or represented at ground level to validate operational relevance, automation needs and commercial assumptions. Third, the study defines the pathway toward a later demonstration phase, potentially using automated free-flyers or other flight opportunities for selected applications.
For users, the intended service output is a structured route to access microgravity-enabled experimentation: from protocol definition and ground pre-screening, to feasibility assessment, to a possible in-orbit demonstration. Robotic orbital facilities remain part of the long-term infrastructure roadmap, but they are not the immediate deployment focus of this feasibility study.
Space Added Value
The added value of space comes from microgravity, which creates physical and biological conditions that cannot be fully reproduced on Earth. For life sciences, microgravity can affect cell organisation, tissue formation, ageing-like mechanisms, cancer biology, immune response and protein crystallisation. These effects may provide differentiated models for drug discovery, disease modelling, regenerative medicine and formulation research. For advanced materials, the value of orbital microgravity is linked to physical effects such as reduced convection and sedimentation during processing.
Ground-based simulated microgravity is used in RSAS as an exploratory and pre-screening tool. It helps users test whether altered mechanical cues and reduced sedimentation effects are relevant for their workflows. It does not replace true orbital microgravity and is not treated as a final validation environment.
Current Status
The RSAS feasibility study kicked off with ESA and ALATYR on 18 May 2026.
Current activities focus on preparing user engagement with selected meetings, interviews and workshops, refining the public project web page, structuring the proof-of-concept plan and aligning the service narrative with the revised roadmap. The study uses ALATYR’s existing ground lab and simulated microgravity capability as the near-term validation environment. Upcoming work covers more user engagement and joint work, service prioritisation, proof-of-concept activities in biological workflows, business-case validation and preparation of a possible follow-on demonstration phase.
