Built for orbital material production and reentry
Varda is designing and building the infrastructure needed to make low Earth orbit accessible to multiple industries, from in-orbit production equipment to reliable and economical reentry capsules.
Varda is designing and building the infrastructure needed to make low Earth orbit accessible to multiple industries, from in-orbit production equipment to reliable and economical reentry capsules.
Reusable rockets have decreased the cost to get to orbit by orders of magnitude. This access offers the ability to expand on and bring to market decades of materials research conducted on the International Space Station and other space habitats. To complete the logistics chain, Varda’s capsule offers a reentry system tailor-made for materials manufactured in space. Shipping to space and back is just shipping.
Varda’s capsules are launched into orbit aboard commercial launch vehicles with dedicated options available.
Once in orbit, Varda’s pharmacutical processing equipment gets to work, heating, mixing, cooling and performing other functions in a microgravity environment that yield novel results.
Once the processing run is complete, Varda’s capsule separates from the orbital satellite.
Varda’s capsule reenters the Earth’s atmosphere, and lands on land via a parachute. The capsule, and processed materials are recovered for post flight analysis.
Processing materials in microgravity, or the near-weightless conditions found in space, offers a unique environment not available through terrestrial processing. These benefits primarily stem from the lack of convection and sedimentation forces, as well as the ability to form more perfect structures due to the absence of gravitational stresses.
These effects are “locked” into the material, typically through material crystallization, before being brought back to Earth.
Varda’s W-Series stands alone as the only all-in-one commercial satellite and reentry vehicle built specifically for the return of materials from orbit. Other operational reentry vehicles are built with humans in mind, meaning significant cost increases from the life support systems and other amenities needed to sustain astronauts.
Once materials are processed in orbit, they’re only useful if they can be returned to Earth. Varda’s W-Series spacecraft is a free flyer—it’s self-sustaining, fully independent of other space stations, and capable of reentry to bring materials back to Earth for post processing.
The reentry capsule completes the logistics chain, allowing orbital materials an inexpensive ride back to Earth while operating as a reentry research platform due to its frequent flights.
Varda’s W-Series stands alone as the only all-in-one commercial satellite and reentry vehicle built specifically for the return of materials from orbit. Other operational reentry vehicles are built with humans in mind, meaning significant cost increases from the life support systems and other amenities needed to sustain astronauts.