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A spacecraft carrying pharmaceutical drugs grown in orbit has finally returned to Earth today after more than eight months in space.
Varda Space IndustriesThe ‘in-space manufacturing capsule, called Winnebago-1, landed in the Utah desert at about 4:40 a.m. EST. Inside the capsules are crystals of the drug ritonavir, which is used to treat HIV/AIDS. This marks the successful completion of Varda’s first experimental mission to develop pharmaceuticals in orbit, as well as the first time a commercial company has landed a spacecraft on US soil.
The capsules will now be sent back to Varda’s facilities in Los Angeles for analysis, and the vials of ritonavir will be shipped to a research company called Improved Pharma for post-flight characterization, Varda said in a statement. The company will also share all data collected through the mission with the Air Force and NASA, according to existing agreements with those agencies.
The first-of-its-kind reentry and landing is also a big win for Rocket Lab, which partnered with Varda on the mission. Rocket Lab hosted Varda’s manufacturing capsule inside its Photon satellite bus; During the mission, the Photon provided power, communications, attitude control, and other essential operations. At the conclusion of the mission, the bus executed a series of maneuvers and de-orbit burns that put the miniature rocket laboratory on the proper re-entry trajectory. The final engine burn was performed shortly after 4 p.m. EST.
As planned, the Photon burned up in the atmosphere, while the capsule, protected by a heat shield and aided by a parachute, continued to descend.
Varda’s mission launched on June 12 and was supposed to be only a month long, but was extended after the company faced regulatory issues. techcrunch Reported in September Regulators rejected the company’s application for a commercial re-entry license. The US Air Force, which operates the re-entry site, also rejected Varda’s application to land there.
Federal Aviation Administration approved re-entry last Thursday, Varda, which was founded in 2020, seeks to unlock potentially huge markets in pharmaceuticals and semiconductor manufacturing by taking advantage of the unique microgravity environment. As the startup writes on its website, “Varda’s microgravity platform enables unique formulations of small molecules and biologics, providing innovative solutions to industry challenges and opening up new opportunities in therapeutic development.” While these benefits have long been understood, Varda aims to bring to market the first commercially viable platform for microgravity-enabled drug processing.
Since the orbital capsule re-enters the atmosphere at speeds in excess of Mach 25, the company is also marketing the capsule as a hypersonic test bed. Last March, Varda received $60 million from the U.S. Air Force to test components and subsystems in a real flight environment.
Varda is planning this re-entry as the first of many; In addition to the three more missions already under contract with Rocket Lab, the company wants to eventually reach a monthly cadence by 2026.
In the near term, the company is preparing for a second mission this summer. that capsule will land Australia’s Koonibba Test Range later this year.
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