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General Astronautics recently launched!
Founded by Bram Schork & Shibo Zhou
Microgravity changes what's physically possible. Proteins crystallize with fewer defects, critical for drug development. Semiconductors and optical fibers form without the flaws that gravity creates. Pharma and tech companies are already investing in orbital research.
But astronaut time is expensive, and there's not nearly enough of it. On ISS, NASA estimates crew time at $130K per hour. On commercial stations, it's more than three times that. Crews have to sleep, rotate home, and pick and choose which experiments to run. Most of the work that could happen in space simply doesn't.
The founders are building robotic systems that handle laboratory work: pipetting, sample prep, plate handling, reagent mixing, with the precision and autonomy to operate without crew. The goal is simple: make microgravity research and manufacturing scalable, not bottlenecked by how many people you can put in orbit.
The team comes from SpaceX, Caltech, and Carnegie Mellon. They've spent their careers on robotics, spacecraft systems, and the intersection of both. The founders started General Astronautics because the limiting factor in space was never the science, it is the capacity to do it at scale.
If you have connections to pharma or biotech companies interested in space-based research, whether protein crystallization, biologics, cell culture, or silicon manufacturing, the founders would love an intro. Connect with them via email here.
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