German startup Spark Microgravity to build first space-based commercial cancer lab

The American space stations under development
The German startup Spark Microgravity announced yesterday it is negotiating with two commercial space stations, one re-entry capsule company, and one French rocket startup to launch the first commercial cancer lab in space.
SPARK Microgravity is collaborating with Axiom Space and Voyager Technologies on commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) opportunities, with ATMOS Space Cargo supporting future return missions. A first flight demonstration with Swedish Space Corporation is scheduled in May. The cancer research will be launched in partnership with HyPrSpace, which developed Baguette-One, the first rocket to be launched from France.
Axiom hopes to launch its first modules in ’28, while Voyager’s Starlab station can’t launch until Starship is operational, possibly about the same time. ATMOS is a German startup developing a returnable capsule that can fly in orbit for several months. It has a deal with Hyperspace to fly a demo capsule on Baguette-1, which is a suborbital rocket.
Similar research has been done on ISS, but NASA’s rules forbid that research to produce a product for sale. Those rules won’t apply on the private stations, and Spark’s existence is a reflection of this new profit-oriented reality. Spark is going to attract investment capital from the pharmaceutical and academic communities, and thus is another profit center for the commercial space stations, outside of government funding.
The market for these new space stations is growing, making any NASA construction contracts less critical in the long run.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

The American space stations under development
The German startup Spark Microgravity announced yesterday it is negotiating with two commercial space stations, one re-entry capsule company, and one French rocket startup to launch the first commercial cancer lab in space.
SPARK Microgravity is collaborating with Axiom Space and Voyager Technologies on commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) opportunities, with ATMOS Space Cargo supporting future return missions. A first flight demonstration with Swedish Space Corporation is scheduled in May. The cancer research will be launched in partnership with HyPrSpace, which developed Baguette-One, the first rocket to be launched from France.
Axiom hopes to launch its first modules in ’28, while Voyager’s Starlab station can’t launch until Starship is operational, possibly about the same time. ATMOS is a German startup developing a returnable capsule that can fly in orbit for several months. It has a deal with Hyperspace to fly a demo capsule on Baguette-1, which is a suborbital rocket.
Similar research has been done on ISS, but NASA’s rules forbid that research to produce a product for sale. Those rules won’t apply on the private stations, and Spark’s existence is a reflection of this new profit-oriented reality. Spark is going to attract investment capital from the pharmaceutical and academic communities, and thus is another profit center for the commercial space stations, outside of government funding.
The market for these new space stations is growing, making any NASA construction contracts less critical in the long run.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

