Balerion Principal Aidan Daoussis sits down with Shishir Bankapur, CEO of Helogen, to discuss manufacturing biomaterials in space. Helogen is developing autonomous orbital manufacturing infrastructure for high-value biomaterials that can benefit from microgravity production. The company is scaling its platform through a series of missions while pursuing applications including orthopedic scaffolds, biopolymers, and other regulated medical materials.
00:00 – Introduction and Helogen’s vision for manufacturing in space
03:23 – Bankapur’s background in chemical engineering, pharma, startups, and company building
06:13 – Origins of Helogen and using microgravity to accelerate biological research
10:03 – Helogen as an orbital industrial infrastructure and manufacturing company
13:46 – Biomaterials that can benefit from microgravity manufacturing
16:19 – Scaling from small-volume missions toward larger orbital production capacity
19:12 – Building a portfolio of high-value materials rather than a single product
22:43 – Long-term vision for moving industrial activity off Earth
24:05 – Acquisition of Velen Space and expansion into India’s growing space ecosystem
28:14 – Managing launch, station, and infrastructure dependencies
32:33 – Common misconceptions about Helogen and its focus on manufacturing over research
36:20 – What an autonomous space factory physically looks like
39:09 – Why biomanufacturing in space is technically difficult
43:15 – Economics of orbital manufacturing and dedicated launch
44:44 – Closing perspective: space-made materials moving from science fiction to commercial infrastructure
