Space manufacturing start-up pulls off on-orbit pharmaceutical experiment

Enlarge / Varda Space's first "Winnebago" spacecraft Varda Space, called W-Series 1, ahead of launch on June 12. rocket lab

The co-founder of California-based start-up Varda Space Industries says his company's first space mission - a miniature lab that grew crystals of the drug ritonavir in orbit - is on the way to wrap up in the next few weeks with a one-of-a-kind re-entry and landing in Utah.

Varda's spacecraft launched June 12 on a rideshare mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, then completed several weeks of checkouts before beginning a 27-hour drug-making experiment the last week. When ground controllers gave the go-ahead, the mini-lab began growing crystals of ritonavir, a drug commonly used to treat HIV.

The 27-hour experiment ended on June 30, and data transmitted by the spacecraft showed that all went well.

"For the first time ever, orbital drug processing has occurred outside of a government-run space station," Varda tweeted. "This is our first step in commercializing microgravity and building an industrial park in LEO (Low Earth Orbit)."

"The space drugs are done cooking baby!" tweeted Delian Asparouhov, co-founder of Varda.

Asparouhov, who created Varda in 2020 with former SpaceX engineer Will Bruey and scientist Daniel Marshall, said Friday he was pleased with the progress of the demonstration mission.

"One of the critical elements of pharmaceutical processing is being able to maintain appropriate temperature ranges for long periods of time," Asparouhov told Ars. "It was exactly what we expected, which is really nice to see."

Varda is planning a sequence of satellite missions. The spacecraft currently in orbit is the first of Varda's Winnebago series, designed to bring pharmaceutical research samples back to Earth for laboratory analysis and eventual commercial exploitation.

The approximately 660-pound (300-kilogram) satellite was built in partnership with Rocket Lab, which provided a solar-powered carrier module, or bus, that provides power, communications, propulsion, and control. 'attitude. Varda built a re-entry capsule nearly 3 feet in diameter (1 meter) mounted on the side of Rocket Lab's satellite platform.

Enlarge / This chart from an FAA EA shows the predicted trajectory of Varda's re-entry vehicle as it approaches the Utah Test and Training Range. Federal Aviation Administration

Over the next few weeks, the Rocket Lab ground crew will transmit a command to trigger the spacecraft's thrusters for a braking maneuver to knock the satellite out of orbit, placing it in a trajectory to dive back into the atmosphere and target a landing at the U.S. Army's Utah Range and Training Area southwest of Salt Lake City.

Varda's nearly 200-pound reentry capsule will separate from its carrier vessel prior to reentry. An ablative carbon-based heat shield material developed by NASA will protect the capsule from scorching hot temperatures as it streaks...