A Varda Space Industries capsule after landing at the Utah Test and Training Range Feb. 21. Credit: Varda Space Industries
WASHINGTON — A Varda Space Industries capsule landed in the Utah desert Feb. 21 as part of the company’s efforts to demonstrate space manufacturing technologies.
In a statement, Varda said that the capsule from its W-Series 1 mission landed at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) west of Salt Lake City at 4:40 p.m. Eastern. An image released by the company showed the capsule lying intact on the desert floor, although the company did not release other details about the status of the spacecraft.
The capsule, about 90 centimeters in diameter and weighing less than 90 kilograms, was part of a spacecraft built by Rocket Lab for Varda and launched in June 2023 on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 rideshare mission. Varda used the spacecraft to test space manufacturing technologies, producing crystals of a drug called ritonavir that would be returned to Earth in the capsule.
Varda had planned to return the capsule as soon as mid-July, but encountered delays securing a commercial reentry license from the Federal Aviation Administration and approvals from the U.S. Air Force, which operates UTTR, to land the capsule there. The company said in October it had gotten close to getting those approvals in September but fell short.
The company received an FAA reentry license Feb. 14 and was cleared to perform a landing at UTTR on Feb. 21. The landing site was an ellipse 45 by 35 kilometers within the southern part of UTTR and the neighboring Dugway Proving Ground, according to environmental documents. Varda did not disclose the exact location of the capsule landing.
The reentry required a series of maneuvers by the main spacecraft to go from a circular to an elliptical orbit, which were handled by Rocket Lab. The spacecraft released the capsule just before reentry and itself reentered, burning up.
“This mission was a phenomenal feat and impressive display of teamwork between the Rocket Lab and Varda teams to develop a unique and highly capable spacecraft, successfully demonstrate in-space manufacturing and bring back the capsule and finished pharmaceutical product – all on the first attempt,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in a statement.
Varda said it will ship the capsule back to its California headquarters for analysis, while providing the ritonavir samples on board to a pharmaceutical company, Improved Pharma, for analysis. Varda said it will also share data from the reentry itself with NASA and the Air Force under a contract with those agencies.
The company is preparing for a second mission, also using a Rocket Lab spacecraft, that will launch this summer. Varda announced in October an agreement with an Australian company, Southern Launch, to land the capsule at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia. Accessing that range, Varda said when it announced the agreement, should be easier than UTTR because there are fewer competing users.
Rocket Lab’s Beck said his company had other interests in the successful reentry and landing beyond supporting Varda’s mission, which involved potential future human spaceflight applications of its Neutron rocket currently under development. “The success of this reentry mission will also inform our work on developing a reentry capsule for Neutron to potentially enable human spaceflight missions.”
Quelle: SN
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Varda Space, Rocket Lab nail first-of-its-kind spacecraft landing in Utah
A spacecraft containing pharmaceutical drugs that were grown on orbit has finally returned to Earth today after more than eight months in space.
Varda Space Industries’ in-space manufacturing capsule, called Winnebago-1, landed in the Utah desert at around 4:40 p.m. EST. Inside the capsule are crystals of the drug ritonavir, which is used to treat HIV/AIDS. It marks a successful conclusion of Varda’s first experimental mission to grow pharmaceuticals on orbit, as well as the first time a commercial company has landed a spacecraft on U.S. soil, ever.
The capsule 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 be sharing all the data collected through the mission with the Air Force and NASA, per existing agreements with those agencies.
The first-of-its-kind reentry and landing is also a major win for Rocket Lab, which partnered with Varda on the mission. Rocket Lab hosted Varda’s manufacturing capsule inside its Photon satellite bus; through the course of the mission, Photon provided power, communications, attitude control and other essential operations. At the mission’s conclusion, the bus executed a series of maneuvers and de-orbit burns that put the miniature drug lab on the proper reentry trajectory. The final engine burn was executed shortly after 4 p.m. EST.
Photon burned up in the atmosphere as planned while the capsule, protected by a heat shield and with the aid of a parachute, continued to land.
Varda’s mission launched on June 12 and was supposed to be just a month long, but it was extended after the company encountered regulatory issues. TechCrunch reported in September that regulators denied the company’s application for a commercial reentry license. The U.S. Air Force, which operates the reentry site, also denied Varda’s application to land there.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved the reentry last Thursday. Varda, which was founded in 2020, wants to unlock potentially huge markets in pharmaceuticals and semiconductor manufacturing by taking advantage of the unique microgravity environment. As the startup notes on its website, “Varda’s microgravity platform enables unique formulations of small molecules and biologics, providing innovative solutions to industry challenges and unlocking new opportunities in therapeutic development.” While these benefits have long been understood, Varda is aiming to bring to market the first commercially viable platform for microgravity-enabled drug processing.
Because the orbital capsule reenters the atmosphere at over Mach 25 speeds, the company is also marketing the capsule as a hypersonic test bed. Last March, Varda secured $60 million from the U.S. Air Force to test components and subsystems in a real flight environment.
Varda is planning on this reentry being the first of many; in addition to three more missions already under contract with Rocket Lab, the company eventually wants to ramp up to a monthly cadence by 2026.
In the nearer term, the company is gearing up for a second mission this summer. That capsule will land in Australia’s Koonibba Test Range later this year.
Quelle: TechCrunch
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Update: 29.02.2024
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Varda’s drug-cooking Winnebago will be remembered as a space pioneer
A small capsule containing pharmaceuticals made in space landed in Utah last week.
Varda Space Industries is finally able to celebrate. For nearly eight months, the in-space manufacturing company's first mission was essentially stranded in low-Earth orbit, but not because of any technical malfunction or a restriction imposed by the laws of physics.
Instead, the spacecraft couldn't return to Earth until Varda and three government entities—the US military, the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and the FAA's Air Traffic Organization—all got on the same page. This was far more complicated than anyone envisioned, and Varda had to bypass landing opportunities in July and September because it couldn't secure governmental approvals.
Finally, earlier this month, the FAA approved a commercial reentry license for Varda's space capsule, which was somewhat larger than a mini-fridge, to fall back into the atmosphere and parachute to a landing in the remote Utah desert southwest of Salt Lake City. Varda's landing zone was at the Utah Test and Training Range, a sprawling military facility primarily used for weapons testing.
Varda's capsule landed in the Utah desert at around 4:40 pm EST (2140 UTC) last Wednesday. Approaching from the north, the craft's heat shield protected it from scorching temperatures during reentry. Then, the capsule deployed a 6.2-foot-diameter (2.1-meter) parachute to slow its velocity for a relatively gentle landing.
A recovery team went out to retrieve the nearly 200-pound capsule and connect it to a helicopter line for a short flight to a nearby processing facility, where engineers would prepare the spacecraft for transport back to Varda's headquarters in El Segundo, California.
The mood at Varda following the successful landing was “as cheerful as it gets," said Delian Asparouhov, who co-founded the company in 2020 with former SpaceX engineer Will Bruey and scientist Daniel Marshall.
“I always felt confidence in our team's ability to accomplish this," Asparouhov told Ars. "It was just a question of time."
Waiting game
Varda achieved several firsts with this mission. The Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) has some experience in supporting spacecraft landings, but this was the first time a commercial spacecraft landed at a military test range, adding another layer of regulatory and bureaucratic oversight. In September, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission deposited a cache of asteroid samples at UTTR.
Varda was the first company to secure a commercial FAA reentry license under streamlined commercial spaceflight regulations known as Part 450. This licensing paradigm is regularly used for commercial launches (there were 117 FAA-licensed launches last year), but this was the first time any company went through this process for a reentry.
Only two companies received commercial FAA reentry licenses before Varda—Lockheed Martin for a single test flight of the Orion spacecraft in 2014 and SpaceX for more than 40 commercial flights of its Dragon crew and cargo spacecraft. Both companies have operated under previous licensing regimes before the FAA introduced the revised Part 450 protocol in 2020.
The FAA's commercial space office is responsible for licensing commercial launch and reentry operations, with a primary interest in ensuring that these activities don't endanger the public. But FAA air traffic controllers had to find a time to clear a broad swath of airspace around the trajectory of Varda's descending space capsule. The FAA's temporary flight restriction for Varda's reentry was unusually large, particularly for such a small spacecraft, stretching more than 400 miles (700 kilometers) long and 60 miles (100 kilometers) wide from southern Montana to western Utah.
The timing of Varda's reentry, along with Varda's access to the secure military facility, also had to be coordinated with the test range's busy schedule of military exercises.
Varda launched its mission without an FAA reentry license, but Asparouhov said his company has worked with the FAA since its founding in 2020. To date, spacecraft reentries over the United States have typically been part of a NASA-sponsored human spaceflight program. Varda's approach is different. If you think of a human-rated spaceship as a luxury automobile, Varda's spacecraft is more akin to a teenager's starter car.
"We’re building (something) like a 1986 Toyota Corolla that is meant to be less than a million bucks a pop, quickly refurbished, and then shot right back into space," Asparouhov said.
If Varda realizes its lofty goals and other companies do the same, the FAA will face the same increase in demand for reentry licenses that it has seen for launch licenses. The FAA's commercial space office has struggled to keep pace with growth in the launch industry. SpaceX, the company responsible for most of the launches licensed by the FAA, last year called for additional funding to double the FAA's licensing staff, among other recommendations to overcome regulatory bottlenecks.
Maybe the experience gained from this first mission will help Varda and the FAA better navigate the licensing process next time.
“We wish that it could have been smoother in some ways," Asparouhov said. "We both went through this process the first time and, as far as it looks, basically nailed the target for the first time (on landing). So I feel really good about the precedent that we've set, our ability to do this multiple times this year."
Eight months in orbit
This was the first in a series of missions Varda plans to build and launch. Varda calls this design the Winnebago series, designed to bring pharmaceutical research specimens back to Earth for laboratory analysis and eventual commercial exploitation. This satellite launched on June 12 on a SpaceX rideshare mission, and less than three weeks later, it completed a pioneering drug manufacturing experiment.
The experimental portion of the spacecraft was contained inside Varda's reentry pod, which launched on the side of a host satellite built by Rocket Lab. The solar-powered mothership provided electricity, communications, propulsion, and attitude control as the satellite flew in a polar orbit.
For this mission, Varda's mini-lab grew crystals of ritonavir, a drug commonly used to treat HIV. These types of experiments have typically required support from astronauts and the infrastructure of a large spacecraft like the International Space Station or the space shuttle. Varda's business plan hinges on producing pharmaceuticals, and perhaps other goods, in low-Earth orbit inside an automated laboratory at a fraction of what it would cost to do it on a human spaceflight mission.
Varda's founders identified pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and fiber optic manufacturing as the products that could most benefit from in-space manufacturing. There are benefits to producing these goods in the absence of gravity. For example, drug crystals can grow larger and in a more predictable manner in a microgravity environment.
The ritonavir experiment finished its run on June 30, and Varda aimed to recover the spacecraft by late July. That didn't happen, as Varda had to wait for an FAA reentry license. The next opportunity to land the capsule was in early September, but the FAA and Air Force officials managing the Utah Test and Training Range denied permission for landing. At the time, an Air Force spokesperson told Ars it denied approval for Varda's landing "due to the overall safety, risk, and impact analysis."
So Varda's first Winnebago mission, named W-1, stayed in orbit, flying near its Utah landing site twice per day. This waiting game put a strain on Varda's team, which, compared to other space companies, is still relatively small at fewer than 100 employees. "All of us were ground down a little bit, especially when we, as a company, put in the right work," Asparouhov said.
Technically, as last week's reentry proved, Varda's spacecraft was capable of safely returning from space.
"This is still the same spacecraft that we designed, built, and launched in June," he said. "It’s not like we went up there and cranked a couple of wrenches and changed it. Ultimately, what this came down to was interagency coordination with a commercial entity running a first-time procedure."
With all the approvals finally in hand, engineers got to work preparing for the capsule's homecoming. The capsule's Rocket Lab carrier module fired its engine several times to lower its orbit from more than 300 miles (about 500 kilometers), setting up for a final burn Wednesday to put the spacecraft on a pinpoint trajectory toward landing in Utah.
Then the satellite released Varda's capsule, which had a heat shield to protect it from the heat of reentry. Rocket Lab's satellite was designed to burn up in the atmosphere. With W-1 back on Earth, Varda will open up the capsule, pull out the ritonavir crystals inside, and deliver them to Improved Pharma, a pharmaceutical company based in Indiana, for evaluation.
Rocket Lab's founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said in a statement that the success of the Varda mission will inform work on developing a reentry capsule for the company's next-generation Neutron rocket, which could potentially enable human spaceflight missions.
"This mission was a phenomenal feat and impressive display of teamwork between the Rocket Lab and Varda teams to develop a unique and highly capable spacecraft, successfully demonstrate in-space manufacturing, and bring back the capsule and finished pharmaceutical product—all on the first attempt," Beck said in a statement.
Varda’s big ambitions
"This is the first time in human history that commercial space manufacturing has been done entirely independently of a government piece of infrastructure," Asparouhov said. "It’s been done at a very low cost, and this infrastructure has the potential to be at a very high cadence."
Varda and Rocket Lab are preparing the next Winnebago spacecraft for launch this summer on another SpaceX rideshare mission. The next capsule is "effectively identical" to the spacecraft that just landed, Asparouhov said. Its mission, assuming technical and regulatory factors align, will last a few weeks.
“The biolab inside is a bit more sophisticated," he continued. "We definitely have a long way to go in terms of biolab sophistication."
But the next mission will fly payloads for commercial clients rather than a demonstration drug like the one manufactured on Varda's first spacecraft. A more significant upgrade will debut on a Varda mission in mid-2025. "That's when we'll be able to handle a much wider set of molecules and processes," Asparouhov said.
After the delay in getting approvals for landing this mission, Varda officials signed an agreement with the Australian company Southern Launch. The company operates a remote facility called Koonibba Test Range in South Australia, which could be used for landing future Varda capsules. Varda hasn't determined whether its second mission will land in Utah or in Australia. In either case, Varda will still need an FAA reentry license because it is a US company, although landing in Australia would allow Varda to avoid scheduling issues at the Utah military range.
The Air Force has an agreement with Varda to evaluate using the company's reentry capsules, which fly through the upper atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, as a test platform for components and technologies the military use on hypersonic missiles. NASA and Varda are working together on heat shield technology.
Quelle: arsTechnica
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Update: 4.03.2024
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Watch this private Varda Space capsule's blistering return to Earth in amazing onboard video
A pioneering private space capsule captured spectacular footage of its fiery homecoming last month.
Varda Space's first-ever mission, called W-1, wrapped up on Feb. 21 with the successful recovery of the California's startup's off-Earth manufacturing capsule.
That conical, 3-foot-wide (0.9 meters) capsule touched down softly under parachute at the Utah Test and Training Range west of Salt Lake City, carrying space-grown crystals of the antiviral drug Ritonavir.
But much of its journey through Earth's atmosphere was quite harrowing, as shown by the video, which Varda posted to its YouTube channel on Feb. 28. The craft slammed into our planet's thick air at more than 25 times the speed of sound, generating a cataract of colorful, cascading sparks.
Varda aims to become a major player in the nascent in-space manufacturing industry, which takes advantage of the unique microgravity environment of low Earth orbit to make high-value products like pharmaceuticals.
Such work has been done on the International Space Station already with the help of astronauts. But Varda offers customers an all-in-one autonomous option — a capsule that serves as both a minifactory and a return vehicle, taking pricey humans out of the orbital loop.
W-1 was Varda's first in-space test. The mission launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket in June 2023, one of more than 70 payloads on SpaceX's Transporter-8 rideshare mission. Varda's capsule was integrated into a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft, which provided power, propulsion and other vital services.
About a week after liftoff, Varda announced that crystals of Ritonavir — a drug used to treat HIV and hepatitis C — had grown successfully aboard the capsule as planned.
The company wanted to bring those crystals down shortly thereafter but ran into difficulties securing the required reentry and landing approvals. That permission came last month, paving the way for W-1's historic touchdown.
Varda transported the capsule from Utah to its Los Angeles facilities for inspection and analysis.
"The Ritonavir vials onboard the spacecraft will be shipped to our collaborators Improved Pharma for post-flight characterization," Varda wrote in an updateshortly after landing on Feb. 21. "Additionally, data collected throughout the entirety of the capsule's flight — including a portion where we reached hypersonic speeds — will be shared with the Air Force and NASA under a contract Varda has with those agencies."
Quelle: SC
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Update: 20.04.2024
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FAA to require reentry vehicles licensed before launch
WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration is revising its licensing regulations to prevent a repeat of a situation last year where a spacecraft launched without approvals to return.
In a notice published in the Federal Register April 17, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation announced it will no longer approve the launch of spacecraft designed to reenter unless they already have a reentry license. The office said that it will, going forward, check that a spacecraft designed to return to Earth has a reentry license as part of the standard payload review process.
In the notice, the FAA said that decision was linked to safety concerns of allowing spacecraft to launch without approvals to return. “Unlike typical payloads designed to operate in outer space, a reentry vehicle has primary components that are designed to withstand reentry substantially intact and therefore have a near-guaranteed ground impact as a result of either a controlled reentry or a random reentry,” it states.
The FAA stated that an uncontrolled reentry, such as one that would occur if a controlled reentry is not authorized, “will likely result in risks above those accepted for FAA licensed-reentry operations.”
“Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the safety of the reentry prior to launch,” the agency concluded in the notice. “This way, the FAA is able to work with the reentry operator to meet the required risk and other criteria.”
In an April 10 briefing at the 39th Space Symposium, Kelvin Coleman, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said that policy changes were planned given the experience with Varda.
“We did allow them to launch on a SpaceX Falcon vehicle without a reentry license,” he said of Varda. “There were some lessons that we learned from that. We will probably shortly have a policy statement that will come out from our office that will speak to reentry and how we will tackle that challenge of companies needing to have their reentry licenses prior to launch.”
In the case of Varda’s mission last year, he said the company was under a tight schedule for their launch, so the FAA allowed the company to launch “at risk” without a reentry license. “We probably won’t let companies launch at risk because there’s some things from a public safety standpoint that we learned from the Varda experience.”
“Last year, FAA gave Varda formal, written permission to launch W-1 and Varda complied with all requirements in place to do so,” the company said in a statement to SpaceNews. “Once FAA issued a license early this year, our flight-proven reentry system safely and successfully landed at the Utah Test and Training Range. Varda will continue working with FAA and other federal regulators as their policies regarding reentry operations continue to evolve.”
Commercial spacecraft reentries remain rare. The FAA currently lists only two active reentry licenses, one for Varda and the other for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. However, the FAA expects demand for those licenses to increase as more companies seek to return cargo or crew from space.
“We’re seeing more and more companies want to do that,” Coleman said. “I expect to see a ramp up, which is why we have to really get out in front and clarify our policies around reentry and what’s needed prior to launch.”
One example if that growing interest is another startup, Inversion, which announced April 17 it would launch its first reentry vehicle on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission, currently planned for October. That tech demo spacecraft, called Ray, will perform tests in orbit before being commanded to perform a controlled reentry and splash down off the California coast. Inversion did not disclose the status of its licensing efforts for that mission.
