Delegation visits ATMOS Workshop

These autumn days, all ATMOS departments are working at full capacity, both in the workshop and the office, building, performing simulations and shaking campaigns with our eyes set towards one decisive milestone in the history of European spaceflight: the re-entry from space by a commercial non-governmental entity in 2025 - either by us or our colleagues at @?The Exploration Company.

This very milestone had been brought up with Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg during the last #Stallw?chterparty event this July in Berlin. During that night we had the opportunity to present our E V A project to him.

With an attendance of over 1,800 guests from science, politics and economy the event marked the impact of Baden-Württemberg’s strategy of closely linking technology and science - resulting in the emergence of a strong scientific infrastructure and commercial NewSpace sector in the region. Moving forward in an open collaborative manner they are creating new paths towards a new, sustainable era of aviation and space exploration.

During one of these hot summer days, we received a call from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism Baden-Württemberg for a visit by State Secretary Dr. Patrick Rapp and a small delegation consisting of scientists, public figures and one of our partners at our workshop in Lichtenau.

Next stop: ATMOS Space Cargo Workshop

ATMOS Space Cargo was one of many stops of the group’s so-called “Sommerreise” (a summer trip), a four day trip organized with the intention to gain insights into the evolving and highly specialized aerospace industry in the region of Baden-Württemberg. The region in the south-western part of Germany –?with its leading aerospace infrastructure for commercial and scientific organizations such as @ Institute of Space Systems at University of Stuttgart and Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) and Institut für Hochfrequenztechnik und Elektronik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie – is currently home to 16,000 specialists, which are accounting for a total revenue of approximately 5 billion Euros per year. With the International Space University Strasbourg as another key partner for us, the aforementioned represent the strategic foundation of why we chose to operate ATMOS in this region is its proximity to an invaluable logistical framework providing connections over water, railway, streets and air.

“Being one of the largest aerospace centres in Germany, Baden-Württemberg is home to numerous key players whose developments have been technology pacesetters for many other industries for decades. With its PHOENIX return capsule, ATMOS Space Cargo is one of the most promising space start-ups in THE aerospace L?ND. The company makes it possible to carry out important experiments in space, the results of which are then brought back to earth and further investigated here,” said Dr. Patrick Rapp, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism.

During our tour through our workshop, where we are building our PHOENIX return capsule, we shared our vision of sustainable and affordable re-entry technology and our current milestone timeline with our visitors. Because our work is tangible for most parts, our team was able to provide hands-on insights from our avionics and engineering departments and presented our high tech materials and tools, we utilize to build our IAD (Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator) for our upcoming mission, set for 2025.

‘I was very impressed by my visit to ATMOS Space Cargo. Research and development at the highest level, with a top international team, young and dynamic. I wish the whole team that their commitment will be rewarded with success and that both the construction of the re-entry-capable space capsule and the planned medical experiments in space will be a success. It fills me with great joy to have such an exciting start-up in our region.’? Cornelia von Loga , Member of the State Parliament

The Bigger Picture: When NewSpace becomes a New Reality

We concluded the visit with an in-depth exchange on the current developments and potentials of space for Health and how ATMOS is actively contributing to specific advancements in the field together with our partners such as Yuri , Rocket Factory Augsburg - RFA , HyImpulse , ISPTech and Walter E.C. Pritzkow Spezialkeramik and consortiums such as E V A.

“The visit to ATMOS Space Cargo was an impressive demonstration of the basic research being carried out in space today and in the future, which is of enormous importance for research on Earth. The in-depth examination of the ATMOS technology shows how important a reliable and at the same time resource-saving transport infrastructure to and from low Earth orbit already is today and will be even more so in the future. As the town of Lichtenau, we are very happy to support ATMOS on their journey to the stars in any way we can”, added Christian Greilach , Mayor of Lichtenau, Germany.

As an outcome of the exchange during this visit was the view of a bigger picture of not just the potential of this Baden-Württemberg’s pioneering spirit, but its visible progress towards a new integrated aerospace industry where the public sectors support scientists and entrepreneurs in order to make what is called NewSpace a mere reality of our lifetime.