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The Varda capsule was part of a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft that launched in June 2023 on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 rideshare mission.
Varda received an FAA reentry license on 2024-02-14 and was cleared to perform a landing at UTTR on 2024-02-21.
Varda will ship the returned capsule to its California headquarters for analysis and will provide the ritonavir samples on board to the pharmaceutical company Improved Pharma for analysis.
Varda had planned to return the capsule as soon as mid-July 2023 but encountered delays securing a commercial reentry license from the Federal Aviation Administration and approvals from the U.S. Air Force to land at UTTR.
Deploying Varda’s capsule on a hypersonic reentry trajectory to land within the mission’s landing zone at the UTTR required pinpoint accuracy with a margin of error of less than 0.05%.
Rocket Lab designed, manufactured, and operated a bespoke spacecraft to enable Varda’s capsule manufacturing demonstration.
Varda Space Industries managed the capsule’s hypersonic reentry, parachute deployment, and touchdown at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) near Salt Lake City shortly after 21:30 UTC on 2024-02-21.
Deploying Varda’s capsule to land within the mission’s UTTR landing zone required a landing accuracy margin of error of less than 0.05%.
The next Rocket Lab spacecraft for Varda is scheduled to launch before the end of 2024.
The second Rocket Lab spacecraft for Varda has completed assembly, integration, and testing at Rocket Lab’s spacecraft production facility in Long Beach, California and is scheduled to launch in the coming months.
Rocket Lab USA built and operates the satellite currently hosting Varda Space Industries' in-space manufacturing capsule on orbit.
Varda launched the W-Series 1 spacecraft in June on the SpaceX Transporter-8 rideshare mission.
Varda’s second mission is scheduled for as soon as mid-2024 and could use the Koonibba Test Range for capsule returns.
Varda Space Industries scheduled the W-Series 1 capsule reentry for 2024-02-21.
Southern Launch partnered with U.S.-based Varda Space Industries to facilitate the return of Varda’s in-space manufacturing capsule to the Koonibba Test Range in 2024.
Southern Launch’s partnership with Varda Space Industries involves returning in-space manufacturing capsules to Koonibba in 2024 and the potential to relaunch those capsules into orbit from Whalers Way on rockets manufactured by U.S. companies.
Southern Launch signed an agreement on 2023-10-19 with Varda Space Industries to host landings of Varda capsules at the Koonibba Test Range.
Varda is the first company to seek an FAA reentry license under the new Part 450 regulations.
Varda Space Industries has not yet received a license for its first Part 450 reentry operation.
Varda launched its first spacecraft, W-Series 1, on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 rideshare mission in June.