Sierra Space, a commercial space company and defense tech prime, and Yuri, a Germany-based space biotech company, announced today an agreement for one new ScienceTaxi BioSpin mission to continue biological and medical research advancements and drug discovery in microgravity. The culmination of the partnership will ultimately aim to provide scientific solutions for treating and curing diseases on Earth.
This agreement builds on the partnership forged between the two companies in 2022 to deliver Yuri’s ScienceTaxi incubator to the International Space Station (ISS). Under this expanded contract, Sierra Space will now serve as the primary provider of payload integration, logistics, and operational support for Yuri’s ScienceTaxi throughout all mission phases—launch, in-orbit operations, and re-entry. The continued partnership also marks a commercial breakthrough against the current and ongoing limitations in Low Earth Orbit to provide in-space biotech R&D, production and fabrication via the Yuri middeck locker facilities and bioreactors.
Yuri’s ScienceTaxi BioSpin is a life sciences incubator that can host up to 38 individual experiments per launch, enabling a wide range of high-precision biological and medical experiments and production in space. With automated systems, controlled temperatures, and real-time data collection, it allows researchers the ability to analyze the effects of microgravity on various biological specimens, such as organoids, plants, and crystals. The built-in centrifuge also provides adjustable gravity levels, enabling comparative studies with Earth, lunar, or Martian gravity as a reference.
Sierra Space’s agreement with Yuri underscores its dedication to providing scalable, reliable, and innovative solutions for space-based research. The partnership aims to extend ScienceTaxi’s use beyond the ISS and integrate it into upcoming commercial space platforms. As commercial space exploration evolves, this collaboration sets the stage for groundbreaking discoveries that could reshape medicine and biotechnology on Earth.
