Everyone knows the bento, this Japanese lunch box, separated into different compartments. It is on this model that the Bordeaux start-up Space Cargo Unlimited announces this Tuesday the launch of the BentoBox, a platform which will embark different production units in space, with different services to operate (energy, refrigeration, data control , etc.)
Space Cargo Unlimited also announces a “multi-million dollar” partnership with the German company Atmos Space Cargo, which is developing an atmospheric re-entry capsule, guaranteeing the return of experiments to Earth. A test flight is planned for April 2025, before the first commercial flight scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2025. 20 Minutes asked the president of Space Cargo Unlimited, Nicolas Gaume.
Can you explain what exactly is this “BentoBox” that you are going to send into space?
This is a production platform, which will in fact be the first component and the heart of Rev-1, our future space micro-factory currently under development. It is an infrastructure in which there are different production units, the size of a printer, intended for different clients, and which will allow them to produce elements in space in a completely automated manner. It can carry 100 kg of mass and 240 liters of volume. We are also associated with a German company which will allow us to have an inflatable heat shield to return to Earth, always a delicate phase.
Who are the clients interested in your missions?
We will have around five customers per launch, who want to use the space environment and in particular the absence of gravity, to manufacture different products with high added value for the Earth. Our themes will essentially revolve around the pharmaceutical, technological and new materials industries. We have already filled the first flight of the Bentobox to 80%, and it will be complete at the beginning of 2025. For this first flight, we will only have European companies, in particular one which wants to develop organs in the space, because without gravity, stem cells develop much faster. Tomorrow, we will be able to manufacture corneas, we will be able to develop skin to carry out transplants for severe burn victims. We have another customer who wants to produce fluoride optical fiber, which is of great interest but which is very difficult to manufacture on Earth. We are also going to fly an industrialist who will test laser sensors, which react very differently in the absence of gravity. We will also be able to make alloys that will be much more resistant. And we want to offer this capacity to produce in space at very low costs.
Comment ?
Because we are absolutely without human beings. There are two elements in the cost: the launch – the rocket – which costs less and less thanks to international competition and launcher reuse projects, developed in particular by Space themselves, that is to say the space vehicles in orbit, which were all designed to accommodate astronauts, allowing research to be carried out. This brings security and technical constraints, etc., which multiply costs by 50 or even 100. We have a fully automated device, and therefore much cheaper. .
Ultimately, what will the cost of these missions be for your clients?
It depends because we have different categories of customers. Some only work through passive cargo ships, that is, they send something into space and get it back. The “smallest” in this category does a mission for 25,000 euros. But others do much more complex things with production in space, and there it goes up to a little over three million euros for the largest customer. We also have clients who want recurring launches. We are already able to announce seven flights, and we are in the process of marketing the second and third flights for 2026.
Which launcher will you use for these missions?
With Space
How long will the flights be?
We offer two-week flights with the Bentobox, knowing that the Rev-1 capsule will make two-month flights. Some clients need time, others only a few days. The platform will rotate at an altitude of 600 km, in a polar orbit [autour des deux pôles]and after taking off from Cape Canaveral, it will land in the water, certainly in the Azores.
You also sent vines to the ISS, which were then replanted on Earth. Where is this experiment?
The goal was to develop vines that were more resistant to pathogens. We have very good results, and we will start commercialization next year, which makes us the only company in the world that has produced something in space with added value for the Earth, and which will be commercialized , with winegrowers.
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