Avaru Space

Avaru Space is a Finnish New Space company founded in 2019 and based in Espoo, Finland. The company was created with a mission to help non-space organizations take their first easy step into space, believing that humanity can benefit greatly from the learnings gained through space exploration.

Avaru Space developed Space Pocket, a revolutionary sharing economy solution for sending sample materials into Earth orbit for testing and inspiration. The concept originated when Aurora Propulsion Technologies noticed unused space aboard their small satellite — instead of counterweights, that space became available for external payloads. Avaru Space formalized this into a turnkey service offering both inspirational and science-focused orbital flights.

The world's first Space Pocket launched in May 2022 aboard AuroraSat-1 on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand, carrying KONE UltraRope® as its inaugural test payload. The company operates through a network of partners including Aurora Propulsion Technologies for hardware and mission execution and the University of Jyväskylä Spectral Imaging Laboratory for sample analysis.