Research vertical
Microgravity
Microgravity is one of the few environments that changes the physics of biology and materials. SSIP's microgravity activity connects Swiss research and industry with experiment development, flight platforms and the commercial pathways that follow.
Why microgravity matters industrially
In orbit, an experiment is in continuous free fall: the net effect of gravity on the sample is reduced by several orders of magnitude rather than removed. Suppressing sedimentation, buoyancy-driven convection and hydrostatic pressure changes how cells grow, how proteins crystallise and how alloys and fluids behave. For life sciences and advanced manufacturing this is not a curiosity — it is a process parameter that cannot be reproduced on the ground.
The constraint has never been scientific interest; it has been access, experiment engineering and a credible route from a first flight to an industrial process.
From question to industrial process
Microgravity work follows a recognisable pathway. Select a stage to see what it involves and what it produces.
From question to industrial process — typical pathway
Scientific or industrial question · Weeks
A research group or company identifies a process where sedimentation, buoyancy-driven convection or hydrostatic pressure limits what can be observed or produced on the ground.
Output — A written hypothesis with a defined ground baseline.
Indicative timings only. Microgravity means a continuously falling reference frame in which the net effect of gravity on an experiment is very small — not the absence of gravity. Durations vary by platform, payload class and regulatory context.
Where SSIP contributes
- Framing. Translating an industrial or clinical question into an experiment that a flight platform can actually run.
- Consortium building. Assembling research groups, hardware developers and industrial sponsors around a single pilot.
- Platform access. Connecting partners with in-orbit and analogue platforms through the SSIP partner network.
- Downstream pathway. Keeping regulatory, manufacturing and commercial questions in scope from the first design review.
Application fields
Regenerative medicine and tissue models, protein and pharmaceutical crystallisation, bioprocessing and bioreactor work, advanced materials and alloys, fluid and thermal systems, and the sensing, automation and AI layers required to run experiments autonomously.
Microgravity work is coordinated closely with the Space BioDistrict, where the life-sciences side of the ecosystem is anchored.