Kookaburra flies reusable re-entry capsules carrying programmable Experiment Containers — automated orbital labs for cell lines, engineered tissue, biologics and plants. A return-capable experimental platform for many customers today, built to dock with the commercial space stations of tomorrow.
Press play, or step through each stage. The camera follows the capsule from the pad, into orbit, and back down to the sea.
A standalone orbital lab that launches, runs each customer's living-systems experiment, and brings the whole payload home — no station required.
The same Capsule · Nest · EC components dock with commercial space stations for longer, crew-tended science — then bring time-critical samples home fast.
One reusable shell, a modular processing unit, and plug-and-play bioreactors. The same three parts carry both phases.
Reusable blunt-body aeroshell that survives re-entry and flies again — heat shield, parachute, and the payload sealed inside.
The processing unit that powers, cools and connects the ECs — with variable-gravity control so gravity is a dial, not a switch — and forms the docking interface in Phase 2.
A compact, self-contained automated bioreactor for one customer's process — closed-loop control, swappable and plug-and-play.
One airframe, two jobs. Dial a gentle lifting entry for living cargo, or an aggressive ballistic entry for a hypersonic testbed — and watch peak-g and heat flux move while the Mach-25 entry stays.
A proven category leader, a fast-growing market, and a launch-cost curve that turns access into a commodity.
Core R&D, IP and talent stay in Australia; AUKUS Pillar II lets the team work fluidly with NASA and US primes.
Cell lines and cultivated cells, stem cells and engineered tissue, biologics, and plants as biofactories. Other microgravity work rides along.
Melbourne's ~38°S suits low-inclination orbits poorly — so the story is R&D, IP and talent, not domestic launch. Fly on US/equatorial providers.
Benchmarked to Varda; differentiated by a living-systems focus and full return, offered as shared capacity for many customers.