November 27, 2025

Astron To Launch Helogen Biolab Satellites

By Astron Systems

Astron Systems and Helogen have announced agreements for a first batch of 3 missions to launch biolab satellites into space onboard Astron’s 100% reusable small rocket, “Aurora”, including on the first commercial flight of the vehicle. Together these companies seek to unlock the full potential of space for accelerating biological processes and fast-tracking breakthroughs in healthcare, wellness, cosmetics, and other industries.

Helogen, formerly Odyssey Spaceworks, is a New York based company manufacturing high-value biomaterials in orbit that Earth simply can’t make. It operates the most advanced autonomous space biolabs to deliver performance leaps for biomaterials that customers in wellness, cosmetics, and medicine have been chasing for decades. With a satellite already in orbit and partners including NASA and Memorial Sloan Kettering, Helogen is using the unique physics of space to push breakthrough materials to market faster than any Earth-bound platform.

With Aurora, Astron Systems are leading the way globally in bringing 100% rocket reusability to small lift launch, with the goal of unlocking a step change improvement in the speed, flexibility, and cost of services for small payload orbital launch and return. The Aurora rocket is a two stage vertically launched vehicle designed for the orbital launch and return of small payloads, with a payload capability to orbit of around 360 kg.

The main difference between Astron’s rocket and those launching today is its 100% reusability, and applying this design philosophy to a small-lift class sized rocket (Payload to orbit of under 1000 kg). Historically rockets have been discarded after each flight with a new rocket needing to be built, though in recent years the industry has transitioned to partly reusable rockets like SpaceX’s medium-heavy lift class Falcon 9 where the booster stage and fairing segments are able to be re-flown, but the upper (orbital) stage is still expended each flight. The closest comparable rocket in the industry today to Astron’s is Rocket Lab’s small-lift class Electron which is an expendable vehicle, but which is fast moving towards booster reusability.

Right now to launch small satellites customers either need to coordinate with something like 100 other small satellites to make affordable a launch on a large rocket like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which has a payload capacity to orbit of over 20,000 kg, or are forced to pay comparatively extortionate prices for today’s small-lift rockets like Rocket Lab’s Electron which has a payload capacity to orbit of around 300 kg but typically costs upwards of 3 times the price per kg for a launch compared to a rideshare on a SpaceX vehicle. With Aurora Astron Systems’ plan is to have a fleet of 100% reusable small-lift sized rockets so that small satellites can always go to exactly the orbit they want, exactly when they want to go there, and for a price lower than current Falcon 9 rideshare prices. The reusability of the entire vehicle also opens up the potential for the rocket to directly return payloads from orbit, which also is an attractive capability.

On the rationale behind Aurora Eddie Brown, CEO of Astron Systems, said: “It seems blindingly obvious to us that there needs to exist 100% reusable, and therefore much more capable and affordable, small-lift rockets and we know exactly how to build them. We wouldn’t accept it if only large buses could be reused and affordable, and every time you wanted to go for a journey in a car or taxi you had to build a new one. Other small-lift rockets already exist and do well commercially today like Rocket Lab’s Electron, and with better and much more affordable small-lift launch services, the number of customers wanting to launch with them will only increase. For customers like Helogen what we are building will eventually mean that whenever a new experiment or satellite is ready to go, there is an affordable service completely flexible to their timing and requirements that can take it to exactly the orbit desired, exactly when it's ready to go there, and one day will also be able to bring it back again too.”.

On the agreement to launch satellites for Helogen Eddie Brown, CEO of Astron Systems, said: “We love what Helogen are doing and their vision and are delighted that they not only want to launch with us, but are happy to also fly a payload onboard our first commercial mission. We want to provide them the best service we can and hope these will be first launches of many working together.”