Genesis Space Flight Laboratories

Genesis Space Flight Laboratories j.d.o.o. is a Croatia-based aerospace company developing solutions for in-orbit research and manufacturing with payload return capabilities. The company originated in 2020 in Slovenia as the Genoplant Research Institute, which focused on creating a portable laboratory for plant diagnostics. In late 2024, the entity launched its Genesis Space Flight Laboratories division to create modular incubators for customer experiments in low Earth orbit. By July 2025, it was established as a standalone company in Čakovec, Croatia.

The company's primary offering under development is the GEN spacecraft, a free-flyer designed for autonomous microgravity experiments and controlled atmospheric reentry from Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This reusable capsule is intended to facilitate pharmaceutical research, in-space manufacturing, and life sciences by providing a low-cost method for returning biological and material payloads from orbit. The service aims to make such research more accessible than current logistics involving space stations. Genesis SFL provides configurable microgravity laboratories that support a range of experiments including microbiology, plant biology, and biochemistry, eliminating the need for astronauts for these specific tasks. Their systems feature modular incubators, customizable from 1U to 12U CubeSat units, with options for temperature, pressure, light, and humidity control.

Genesis has conducted missions such as MayaSat-1, a biological incubator that flew aboard a SpaceX transporter, carrying hundreds of samples. The company is targeting 2027 for the first flight of its GEN-11, a demonstrator mission intended to validate in-orbit operations, its hybrid propulsion system, and capsule recovery. In July 2025, Genesis secured €300,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Fil Rouge Capital to advance the development of the GEN spacecraft. The company serves academic institutions, individual researchers, and commercial organizations.

Keywords: microgravity research, spacecraft reentry capsule, in-space manufacturing, payload return service, low Earth orbit, autonomous spacecraft, space bioscience, modular space incubators, rideshare space missions, European space industry, life sciences research, pharmaceutical space research, material science in space, CubeSat payloads, satellite development, space logistics, reusable space technology, aerospace engineering, commercial spaceflight, venture capital