PPRuNe Forums

Quote:

https://x.com/itsolelehmann/status/1918291362191163798

A German space startup just made history, and nobody's talking about it.

ATMOS Phoenix became the first private European company to enter space and return through Earth's atmosphere. This changes everything for Europe's space industry.

Here's why this is a big deal :

On April 21, ATMOS's Phoenix 1 capsule:

1. Launched on SpaceX's Falcon 9
2. Orbited Earth
3. Then successfully re-entered our atmosphere.

This has never been done by a private European company before.

And founded in 2021, ATMOS isn't your typical space company...

Their mission? Create affordable, reliable space logistics for returning cargo from orbit. Think of them as the "DHL of space" for the return journey. What makes Phoenix truly innovative isn't just the mission - it's their extremely clever technology.

While traditional heat shields are bulky, heavy, and expensive... ATMOS created a shield that inflates just before re-entry, achieving a 1:2 downmass ratio.

Translation: It can return half its mass as payload - 10x better than current standards........

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1ff60b5b3a.png