ATMOS Space Cargo, a European company developing orbital transport and re-entry vehicles, announced it has raised €25.7 million in Series A funding to advance its orbital return capabilities and expand its vehicle platform.
The round was co-led by Balnord and Expansion Ventures, with participation from Keen Defence and Security and the European Innovation Council through its Accelerator programme, alongside multiple additional investors. The funding will support deployment of an initial three-vehicle PHOENIX 2 fleet, the launch of a new government-focused division, and development of its next-generation vehicle.
ATMOS is transitioning from demonstration to operational service following its PHOENIX 1 flight in April 2025. The planned PHOENIX 2 fleet will consist of three orbital transfer and return vehicles designed to support a range of commercial, institutional, and government missions. The vehicles are capable of operating in Low Earth Orbit for durations ranging from hours to several months and feature autonomous de-orbit and controlled re-entry capabilities.
A key component of the system is the company’s Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator technology, which functions as both a heat shield and aerodynamic brake. This non-ablative design reduces material loss while improving payload efficiency and re-entry precision, enabling faster recovery of materials and data returned from orbit.
The three-flight PHOENIX 2 campaign is intended to establish a repeatable operational cadence for orbital return missions in Europe, reducing program risk and enabling more consistent access for research institutions, industrial users, and government customers.
In parallel, ATMOS is launching ATMOS WORKS, a dedicated business unit focused on serving European governmental and defense clients. The platform is designed for dual-use applications, including in-orbit demonstration and validation, secure return of sensitive payloads, and time-critical mission operations.
The company is also developing PHOENIX 3, a next-generation orbital return vehicle with a target payload capacity of approximately one metric tonne, significantly expanding its ability to support larger and multi-customer missions.
ATMOS positions its platform as a foundational component of Europe’s emerging space infrastructure, enabling sovereign access not only to orbit but also the ability to reliably return materials, hardware, and data, a capability currently limited across the region.
KEY QUOTES:
“This financing allows us to move to regular operational service. A structured campaign of three vehicles establishes Europe’s first routine orbital return infrastructure. PHOENIX 2 is the first step to build a scalable European return infrastructure that will demonstrate our ability to access, operate, and return materials, data, and hardware from orbit independently. With ATMOS WORKS and PHOENIX 3, we are building the full architecture – commercial, institutional, and defence-capable – in parallel.”
Sebastian Klaus, CEO And Co-Founder, ATMOS Space Cargo
“ATMOS is building exactly the kind of dual-use capability Europe needs more of: sovereign access not only to orbit, but back from orbit. We believe ATMOS can become a crucial part of the logistics backbone of a real European space industrial base, one built on operational services, strategic autonomy, and the ability to serve commercial, institutional, and defence customers from the same platform.”
Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, General Partner, Balnord
“ATMOS is building a capability Europe critically lacks: a sovereign, repeatable ability to return payloads from orbit. This investment supports the emergence of orbital return as essential infrastructure for Europe’s commercial, institutional, and security needs.”
Ted Elvhage, Founding Partner, Expansion Ventures
“Europe’s strategic autonomy in space depends on sovereign, end-to-end access to orbit, including the ability to return. ATMOS Space Cargo is addressing an important capability gap in Europe’s space infrastructure. This investment reflects the EIC Fund’s commitment to supporting deep tech companies that strengthen European competitiveness, technological sovereignty, and the long-term development of the European space economy.”
Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair Of The EIC Fund Board, European Innovation Council
