The US W-1 spacecraft carrying HIV and hepatitis C treatment crystals from Varda Space Industries returned after nearly 8 months in orbit, expected to land by parachute at 3:40 a.m. on February 22, Hanoi time.
Simulation of the W-1 re-entry capsule. Photo: Varda Space Industries
The capsule from Varda Space Industries’ W-1 mission landed in northern Utah on the afternoon of February 21, carrying crystals of an antiviral drug developed in Earth orbit, according to Space . The success makes Varda the third company to recover an intact spacecraft from orbit. The other two are SpaceX with its Dragon vehicle and Boeing with its Starliner capsule.
Varda plans to become a major player in off-Earth manufacturing, choosing to do so with a number of benefits. “Processing materials in microgravity provides a unique environment that terrestrial processing does not have. The main benefits come from the absence of gravity-induced convection and sedimentation, as well as the ability to form more perfect structures due to reduced stress,” the company says.
Private companies have brought products made in space back to Earth before. California-based Made In Space, for example, has brought back valuable ZBLAN optical fiber on several occasions. But Made In Space manufactures its ZBLAN on the International Space Station and transports it aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Varda wants to make the process more efficient and cost-effective with a small, unmanned capsule that serves as both a mini-factory and a return vehicle.
Varda’s 3-foot-wide cone-shaped capsule will be mounted on Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft (which will provide power, propulsion, navigation, and other services) and launch in June 2023 on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission. The W-1 capsule will carry materials needed to grow crystals of Ritonavir, an antiviral drug used to treat HIV and hepatitis C. Pharmaceuticals are among the high-value products that could spur and sustain an off-Earth manufacturing industry. Just a week after Transporter-8’s launch, Varda announced that its crystal-growing experiment was operational.
Varda planned to bring the crystals back to Earth after a month or two in orbit. But the company ran into trouble getting reentry clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. military, which operates the planned landing sites at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) and the Dugway Proving Ground, both west of Salt Lake City.
Varda’s clearance was granted last week, and Rocket Lab began preparing for W-1’s reentry. Photon conducted several engine fires over the past few days to put the spacecraft and its W-1 capsule on track to return to Earth. Since it was not built for reentry, most of the spacecraft burned up, but the W-1 capsule survived the atmospheric journey, finally parachuting to the ground at UTTR at 3:40 a.m. on February 22, Hanoi time.
From there, the capsule will be transported to Varda’s facility in Los Angeles for post-mission analysis. Data collected throughout the flight will be shared with the US Air Force and NASA under Varda’s contracts with those agencies.
An Khang (According to Space )
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