Building the Infrastructure that Makes Space Accessible to EveryoneElevationSpace Inc. (Co-Founder & CEO: Ryohei Kobayashi, headquartered in Sendai, Japan) announces it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Space Cargo Unlimited (Co-Founder & CEO: Nicolas Gaume headquartered in Luxembourg, “SCU”), a leading European company with a strong track record in in-orbit demonstration and microgravity research.ElevationSpace is Japan's first private company developing atmospheric re-entry and recovery technologies for returning materials and samples manufactured or tested in space. Through this partnership, the two companies will explore the integration of SCU's autonomous payload platform, BentoBox, into ElevationSpace's future free-flyer orbital demonstration and return platform. This collaboration aims to establish a standardized, high-cadence, and cost-effective infrastructure for in-orbit demonstration and manufacturing with reliable sample return capabilities.Background and PurposeMicrogravity provides a unique environment for pharmaceutical research, advanced materials development, and many other scientific and industrial applications that cannot be replicated on Earth. However, utilizing space remains a significant challenge, as companies are typically required to develop their own flight-qualified experimental hardware capable of withstanding the harsh space environment, including extreme temperature variations, vibration, and radiation.SCU's BentoBox provides a standardized payload platform for in-orbit demonstration and manufacturing. By utilizing BentoBox, customers can send their experimental samples to space without requiring extensive expertise in space flight-qualified experimental hardware development.SCU has established a strong position within the European space ecosystem through pioneering commercial missions, including Mission WISE, which successfully sent wine and grapevine canes to the International Space Station (ISS) for a 12-month mission to study the effects of microgravity.By combining SCU's BentoBox with ElevationSpace's precise lift-guided re-entry technology, highly sensitive payloads—including pharmaceutical and biotechnology samples—can be safely returned to Earth with minimal shock and recovered at a designated landing location.Furthermore, by designing ElevationSpace's future free-flyer platform to accommodate BentoBox from the outset, the two companies aim to eliminate the need for customer-specific payload redesigns and repeated integration verification. This will significantly reduce both lead time and cost, ultimately creating an infrastructure that enables organizations of all sizes to utilize space more easily.Future CollaborationUnder the MoU, the two companies will jointly define detailed customer requirements for future services.ElevationSpace will evaluate the integration of BentoBox into its next-generation return platform, while SCU will study the development of a BentoBox configuration optimized for that vehicle.Looking ahead, the companies aim to establish regular joint missions with a target cadence of at least one mission per year.From left: Ryohei Kobayashi, Co-Founder & CEO at ElevationSpace; Nicolas Gaume, Co-Founder & CEO at Space Cargo Unlimited;Comment from Ryohei Kobayashi, Co-founder & CEO of ElevationSpaceWe are honored to announce this collaboration with SCU, a company that has established a leading position in Europe's in-orbit demonstration and experimentation market.By combining our precise lift-guided re-entry and return capabilities with SCU's BentoBox platform, we believe we can significantly lower the barriers to utilizing space.Achieving our mission of 'Create a world where everyone can live in space' requires an infrastructure that enables every industry on Earth to benefit from the space environment. Together with SCU, we look forward to leading the development of that infrastructure.Comment from Nicolas Gaume, Co-founder & CEO of Space Cargo UnlimitedWe are now entering the commercial microgravity era. As more industries recognise the value of in orbit services, the challenge is no longer proving what's possible, but making access reliable, repeatable and commercially viable. By combining Space Cargo Unlimited's microgravity production platform with ElevationSpace's innovative return capabilities, we ensure that highly sensitive payloads, such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology samples, can be returned safely to Earth, creating a stronger foundation for the next generation of commercial space services.About Space Cargo UnlimitedSpace Cargo Unlimited (SCU) is a Luxembourg-based space company pioneering commercial in-orbit demonstration and manufacturing.Leveraging its extensive experience in space-based research, SCU develops and operates BentoBox, an autonomous modular platform that enables researchers and industrial customers to perform experiments and manufacturing in microgravity.By providing end-to-end services—from payload preparation and integration through launch and in-orbit operations—SCU is opening a new era of applied microgravity research and high-value space manufacturing that delivers transformative benefits on Earth.Company Name : Space Cargo Unlimited Headquarters : Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Co-founder & CEO : Nicolas Gaume Website : https://space-cu.com/ About ElevationSpaceElevationSpace is a space startup with the vision of building an in-orbit transportation network to connect cargo, crew, and all orbital operations. In collaboration with Tohoku University and JAXA, ElevationSpace is leveraging Japan's world-class re-entry technology to develop a space transportation service that facilitates the return of goods from space to Earth. The company is focused on creating small spacecraft capable of transporting items that have been experimented on, developed, and manufactured in a microgravity environment back to Earth.More information: https://elevation-space.com/en