Atmos Space Cargo

ATMOS builds Phoenix, a reentry capsule whose heat shield is inflatable. A rigid capsule pays for its heat shield in mass and volume; an inflatable one packs flat for launch, opens out far wider than the capsule itself, and starts braking high in the atmosphere. Phoenix 1 weighed 250 kilograms and carried four payloads. Phoenix 2 adds its own propulsion, so it can choose when and where to come down.

Sebastian Klaus and three cofounders set the company up in 2021 in Lichtenau, Germany, because Europe has no vehicle of its own for bringing cargo back from orbit. Microgravity manufacturing, biology experiments and defence payloads all end their missions with the same unsolved step, and ATMOS wants to be the European answer to it.

Phoenix 1 flew in April 2025 and proved half the idea. In orbit everything worked, and the capsule and all four payloads returned telemetry. The reentry was compromised before launch, when a change to the rocket's deorbit trajectory sent the capsule in steeper than the shield was designed for. It came down about two thousand kilometres off the Brazilian coast, five hundred beyond prediction and too far out for the chase aircraft. Telemetry indicates the shield deployed. Whether it survived peak heating nobody knows, because the capsule was never recovered. The company called the flight a success, which is true of the objectives it set and silent on the question that matters most. Phoenix 2 is targeted for late 2026, with seven missions booked by Space Cargo Unlimited.