What a German Start-Up's First Test Could Mean for the Space Industry

Cambridge, UK (SPX) May 14, 2025
On April 22nd, SpaceX's Bandwagon-3 rideshare mission took off from Cape Canaveral. Alongside the normal payload of satellites, there was a capsule from a German space start-up - Phoenix 1. This was the inaugural payload of ATMOS Space GmbH, and the first orbital test of its inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (IAD). To re-enter from low-Earth orbit, most spacecraft either use a tile-based