Sebastian KLAUS, from the German army to orbital logistics

Sebastian Klaus does not fit the usual category of founders of European New Space. His background combines aerospace engineering, military culture, operational risk knowledge, and industrial intuition. A former officer in the German army with experience in special operations in Afghanistan and Africa, he sees space less as a scientific territory and more as a strategic infrastructure.

His approach focuses on the other half of the space problem, bringing cargo back from orbit. He believes the space economy will remain constrained as long as satellites, experiments, vehicles, or payloads are mostly designed as single-use objects.

Atmos Space Cargo, founded by Klaus along with Marta Oliveira, Jeffrey Hendrikse, and Christian Grimm, is developing capsules capable of returning various types of cargo from space to Earth. The company positions itself as a space logistics company rather than as an actor in experimentation or manufacturing in orbit.

Klaus’s vision is to build a return transport service that can serve industrial, space agencies, laboratories, material manufacturers in microgravity, and eventually defense actors.

His technology relies on an inflatable thermal shield that aims to increase the braking surface high in the atmosphere. This allows the vehicle to heat up less, sustain fewer stresses, and theoretically return more varied shapes than a traditional capsule.

Klaus’s military background gives him a logistical perspective when discussing space. His goal is to do for space return what SpaceX did for access to orbit through rideshare.

Atmos’s first orbital flight, carried out from the Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 Bandwagon 3 mission, is a significant milestone. The next step, Fenix 2, aims to have cleaner propulsion, an orbital stay of two to four weeks, approximately 100 kg payload capacity, onboard solar energy, and an attempted return to the Azores.

In the midterm, Atmos aims to increase its frequency to two flights next year, followed by quarterly missions, leading to monthly missions.

Klaus’s interest in space biomedicine adds a civil aspect to his work by focusing on organoids, 3D printing of human tissues, cancer research, cellular aging, advanced materials, ZBLAN optical fibers, and semiconductors.

Sebastian Klaus stands out not for promising a new rocket or a space station but for his work on a less flashy yet just as vital aspect: the return. His profile encapsulates several trends in European New Space, from the militarization of orbit to technological sovereignty, industrialization in microgravity, and the shift from space exploration to infrastructure development. He is less of a dreamer and more of an operator, which is what makes him interesting.