October 21, 2019

International Astronautical Congress – Washington DC – Kayser Italia and Nanoracks Space Outpost – Europe (Nanoracks IT) have announced today that the organizations have sign an agreement to broaden research opportunities onboard the International Space Station which leverage the Bioreactor Express Service.

Kayser Italia, in partnership with the European Space Agency, will have access to the KUBIK Incubator, under the Bioreactor Express Service partnership agreement. KUBIK is a small controlled-temperature incubator or cooler with removable inserts designed for self-contained microgravity experiments. On board the Space Station since 2004, KUBIK has hosted numerous extensive microgravity biology and biochemistry experiments. KUBIK allows experiments to operate in the range of 6°C to 38°C. A centrifuge with settable gravity level between 0.2g to 2g is available inside the facility as well. Additional specifications of the platform can be found here. “We are very excited to expand the microgravity research opportunities we can offer our customers,” says Nanoracks IT Director of Global Engagement, Veronica La Regina. “Our customers want temperature control, and now we have it. Access to KUBIK will open up new venues to develop extensive commercial utilization of the Space Station.” This agreement allows Nanoracks IT to continue expanding commercial access to the Space Station at affordable prices and conditions, to new customers from new market sectors participating LEO economy. In the framework of this agreement, Kayser Italia will also be able to provide a wide set of flight proven experiment hardware, including bioreactors and containers, to make access to the hardware easier for the customer. KUBIK of course can also handle customized customer hardware, so long as it meets interface requirements. “Kayser Italia track record in designing, building and operating experiments onboard the ISS has led to the development of this commercial initiative.” says Kayser Italia CEO, David Zolesi. “With Bioreactor Express Service, we want to make KUBIK accessible to everyone, providing an end-to-end service from concept to implementation, for a reasonable price and within an acceptable time-frame.”

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About Kayser Italia

Kayser Italia is a private independent aerospace system engineering company, owned by Dr. Valfredo Zolesi’s family. Kayser Italia is primarily involved in the design, development, manufacture and testing of systems and subsystems used for scientific and technological research activities on board of space platforms, including the International Space Station (ISS). Operating with success in the aerospace context for nearly 30 years, Kayser Italia has contributed and played a significant role in the completion of more than 70 space missions with over 110 payloads, always providing high quality products and services and delivering great levels of performance, leading to scientific, economic and programmatic accomplishments.  In July 2019, Kayser Italia and ESA signed the Bioreactor Express Service partnership agreement for the commercial exploitation of the ESA KUBIK facility.

About Nanoracks

Nanoracks LLC, an XO Markets company, is the world’s first commercial space station company with an existing customer base. Nanoracks believes commercial space utilization will enable innovation through in-space manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, fiber optics – and more, allow for transformational Earth observation, and make space a key player in finding the solution to Earth’s problems. Today, the company offers low-cost, high-quality solutions to the most pressing needs for satellite deployment, basic and educational research, and more –in over 30 nations worldwide. Since 2009, Texas-based Nanoracks has truly created new markets and ushered in a new era of in-space-services, dedicated to making space just another place to do business. In 2017, the Company announced their long-term plans via the Nanoracks Space Outpost Program. This program is dedicated to the repurposing of the upper stages of launch vehicles in-space and converting these structures into commercial habitats, both humanly and robotically tended, throughout the solar system. XO Markets, the world’s first commercial space holding company, includes NanoRacks, DreamUp, NanoRacks Space Outpost Europe, NanoRacks UAE, and more.