Cambium Materials Launched Into Space

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., May 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambium, a global high-performance materials innovator delivering products at unprecedented speed, announced that its new high-temperature material was successfully launched into space on a rocket built by University of Southern California Rocket Propulsion Laboratory's (USCRPL) Daybreak rocket mission. Launched from a site in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, Daybreak successfully reached space and was fully recovered intact after re-entry.

Cambium delivered the custom product for this mission — the rocket component known as a "boattail", an aerodynamic shroud for the rocket nozzle — two weeks after receiving specifications, with launch occurring four weeks later. Cambium's high-temperature materials protected the space craft while also enabling USCRPL to extend the length of its payload bay, a critical design advancement that will expand the utility of this space carrier for future scientific and research missions. This mission marks the first time a team of university students has successfully launched and recovered a rocket as a space payload provider.

"Cambium's high-temperature materials were a game changer for us, expanding technical capabilities, increasing occupational safety," said USCRPL Head of Operations Owen Dowden. "Giving students hands-on experience with advanced and novel materials like these is what our lab strives to do and we couldn't have asked for a better partnership. We look forward to working with Cambium in the future as they continuously advance and expand their product line while we push the boundaries of amateur rocketry."

USCRPL is one of the most accomplished student rocketry programs in the United States, with a track record of pushing boundaries in propulsion, structures, and systems integration. Since becoming the first collegiate team to launch a rocket to space with Traveler IV in 2019, the lab has set its sights on executing missions to carry scientific and research missions and payloads into space.

Cambium's differentiation is not any single class of advanced materials but a unique development approach, offering customers every aspect of molecular discovery, product development, certification and qualification, and rapid scalable manufacturing across the US and Europe, all under one roof.

"Daybreak was Mission Accomplished for both Cambium and USCRPL," Cambium Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Stephan Herrera said. "The speed that this rocket's design, assembly, and completed mission came together was staggeringly fast and represents the latest proof point that we're entering a whole new industrial paradigm where hardware can go from materials design to delivery in days not years."

About USCRPL
The USC Rocket Propulsion Lab is focused on advancing the state of the art in rocket propulsion technology. Armed with determination and the goal of putting student-built rockets into space, members spend their free time designing, building, and testing experimental rocketry and propulsion hardware. RPL aims to provide students the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to a project with tangible challenges and tangible results, in an academically stimulating environment drawing from different disciplines and levels of experience. Since becoming the first collegiate team to reach space with Traveler IV in 2019, RPL has pursued the goal of building a fully in-house space program capable of carrying scientific and research missions and payloads to space.

About Cambium
Cambium is redefining how advanced materials are discovered, designed, and manufactured. The company develops advanced materials for high-performance applications across land, air, sea, and space. This also includes molecular innovation, combining AI-driven molecular design with state-of-the-art chemistry, materials science, and biology. The company delivers exceptional speed from concept to production and qualification. Manufacturing is carried out through a secure, flexible, and scalable domestic supply chain, enabling defense and commercial innovators to move from prototype to full-scale production fast. Visit cambiumglobal.com.

For more information, contact Stephan Herrera, Co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Government Affairs at [email protected]

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SOURCE Cambium Biomaterials, Inc