Swiss-developed technology aims to protect satellites during launch

Rocket launches subject satellites to vibrations that can damage the instruments they carry. Swiss researchers have helped develop a new adapter designed to absorb that stress before it reaches a spacecraft’s payload.

The project brings together the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, known as Empa, and Swiss space company Beyond Gravity. Their redesigned payload adapter sits between a satellite and its launch vehicle. It is intended to protect delicate electronics and measuring instruments during the most demanding phases of ascent.

The technology matters because instruments sent into orbit are built to detect increasingly faint signals, measure small changes and operate with high precision. That sensitivity can also make them vulnerable to mechanical shock. Vibrations generated during launch, including those linked to the separation of rocket stages, can threaten the equipment before a satellite begins its mission.

Empa reported the development on 22 September 2026. The adapter has so far demonstrated its principle in simulations and prototype tests. It has not yet flown on a rocket, and the design still requires further optimisation. Beyond Gravity has filed a patent application for the invention.

The adapter changes how launch energy moves through the structure. Rather than allowing longitudinal vibrations to pass directly into the payload, the researchers redesigned the component as a phononic crystal.

This engineered structure contains integrated aluminium rings. When vibrations travel through the adapter, the rings rotate. That movement converts part of the damaging linear energy into rotational motion, reducing the vibrations that continue towards the satellite and its instruments.

The principle resembles a mechanical filter. The adapter remains part of the physical connection between the spacecraft and the rocket, while its internal geometry manages the energy passing through it. The approach could provide protection without requiring a separate isolation system inside every sensitive instrument.

Empa and Beyond Gravity tested the concept through computer simulations and with a prototype. Those tests showed that the structure can perform its intended damping function, according to Empa. The published information does not yet specify a launch vehicle, a flight date or the final vibration limits the adapter will meet. Engineers must optimise the design before it can be qualified for use in space.

Andrea Bergamini sees vibration control as a gateway to more capable instruments in orbit. The Empa researcher said stronger protection could allow mission planners to send more sensitive measuring equipment into space.

That possibility reaches beyond the adapter itself. Scientific payloads often depend on stable conditions to collect reliable data. Optical systems, precision sensors and other measuring devices can be affected by movement during launch, even when they operate normally once the satellite reaches orbit. Reducing the mechanical load at the connection point could widen the range of equipment that launch providers and satellite manufacturers can consider.

The development also reflects the role of Swiss industrial research in the space supply chain. Empa contributes expertise in materials and structures, while Beyond Gravity works on hardware used in space systems. Their cooperation links laboratory research to a component that could eventually be integrated into commercial or scientific missions.

The technology remains at the development stage. Prototype results support the concept, but space hardware must meet demanding requirements for strength, reliability, mass and repeatable performance. The adapter will need further refinement and qualification before operators can rely on it during launch.