A few months ago on October 25, 2023 I wrote about Varda Space Industries, and how after successfully launching their spacecraft they were trying to get all of the proper government sign offs to return their spacecraft and its cargo to Earth, but the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration rejected Varda Space Industries’ application in September 2023.
Now fast forward a few months and Varda Space Industries has successful landed their Winnebago-1 capsule in the Utah desert on February 21, 2024 after the The Federal Aviation Administration approved the reentry on February 15, 2024.
Varda Space Industries’ spacecraft contains a module for in-space manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs that were grown on orbit during the missions eight months in space.
For its first mission Varda Space Industries’ Winnebago-1 manufactured crystals of the drug Ritonavir, which is used to treat HIV/AIDS.
Varda Space Industries has raised $55.7 million dollars in funding over 7 rounds. In March of 2023 they secured $60 million from the U.S. Air Force to test components and subsystems in a real flight environment.
For its next mission Varda Space Industries plans to land their spacecraft in Australia in order to avoid all the drama they’ve just gone through with U.S. regulators including the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration.
This is sad, because once again government bureaucracy is getting in the way of innovation, and forcing a U.S. company to head offshore to do business, resulting in not only lost revenue but inevitable brain drain.
Varda Space, Rocket Lab nail first-of-its-kind spacecraft landing in Utah