A Croatian company has successfully launched a project into space! Here’s what it’s all about and why it’s important

The SubOrbital Express-5 mission, the seventeenth in a series from the MASER program that began in 1987, carried twelve advanced science projects from nine countries. The RedKite rocket, a two-stage launcher from Bayern Chemie, reached an apogee of 260 kilometers. The European Space Agency (ESA) is the largest customer of the program and finances several experiments in flight. Stefan Krämer, program manager at SSC Space, which conducted the launch, emphasized the importance of the mission.

​- We are all very excited about this launch. We have seen countless times that a few minutes in microgravity can make a huge difference and take a research project to a new level.

At the center of the Croatian participation is the GEN-1 capsule with a diameter of 5.9 centimeters. Its mission is twofold: conducting research and validating key subsystems for returning to Earth. The capsule carries two active payloads. The first, the GEN-1P module, uses 25 infrared sensors to monitor the metabolism and stress of microorganisms in real time. The second payload, GEN-2P, is a habitat for fruit flies (Drosophila) to study the biological effects of microgravity. In addition, passive držač GEN-3P carries sample materials. A key part of the mission is the recovery of the capsule after a hypersonic reentry through the atmosphere at a speed of about Mach 7, which will enable detailed analysis of all collected samples after the flight.

Genesis Space Flight Laboratories, a company founded in October 2025, deals with space logistics. Their goal is to build small vehicles for returning from space in order to make research in microgravity more accessible to clients from biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. They secured funding of 300,000 euros for the development of the GEN spacecraft, designed for short, autonomous missions into low Earth orbit. After the successful suborbital tests, they plan to develop larger capsules as well.