Aoba is a technology demonstration spacecraft featuring a reentry capsule under development by the Japanese company ElevationSpace as the first orbital test of their ELS-R series of space recovery platforms. The 220 kg spacecraft will launch on Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket and stay in orbit for approximately six months, performing biological experiments (eg. growing Euglena gracilis). Then a small reentry capsule will separate from the rest of the spacecraft to demonstrate safe atmospheric reentry and ocean splashdown, delivering biological samples to Earth. The spacecraft is expected to launch no earlier than 2027.
References