Kookaburra flies reusable re-entry capsules carrying programmable Experiment Containers — automated orbital labs for cell lines, engineered tissue, plants and microbial fermentation. 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 — from the launch pad, into orbit, and home under canopy. Switch between Phase 1 and Phase 2, and choose a land, sea or mid-air recovery.
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 labs. 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 lab for one customer's process. The same slot takes many EC configurations — cell culture and microbial fermentation, multi-well arrays, tissue scaffolds, plant chambers, and algae or aquatic-plant culture.
The Nest's shared power, fluid and data let ECs be plumbed in series — so a customer can book a production line, not just a slot. Upstream fermentation feeds downstream separation, purification and formulation, and the 0–1 g centrifuge makes centrifugal separation native. Return the finished product, not the raw broth.
One standard lifting entry serves both. Living cargo rides at ≤ 3 g while defence payloads ride along through the full Mach-25 plasma-and-maneuvering environment on the same flight. A dedicated aggressive profile stays available only for rare extreme-qualification jobs.
Defence payloads piggyback on the Standard profile — same flight, same Mach-25 entry, no bespoke mission. Extreme-qual is a rare, dedicated, biology-free flight for testing hardware to the harsh end of the aerothermal envelope.
The window is opening, the category is proven, and the demand is already funded — on a sovereign base few can copy.
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.