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Varda Space Industries
Company typePrivate
IndustrySpace industry
Founded2020; 4 years ago (2020)
FounderWill Bruey,
Delian Asparouhov,
and Daniel Marshall
Headquarters
El Segundo, California
,
United States
Key people
Delian Asparouhov, president
Will Bruey (CEO)
Websitevarda.com

Varda Space Industries is a privately held American space research company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in November 2020, the company designs, builds, and flies spacecraft that manufacture materials in microgravity. The company targets in-space manufacturing of materials that are difficult to produce in Earth's gravity, and brings those materials back to Earth with their atmospheric reentry vehicle. Investors in the company include venture capitalists such as Khosla Ventures and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.[1]

History

Varda Space was founded in November 2020 by Will Bruey, Delian Asparouhov, and Daniel Marshall. Will Bruey is a former electrical engineer of SpaceX, and Delian Asparouhov is associated with Founders Fund. Varda Space Industries began designing their first generation of space vehicles in January 2021 to manufacture new material in microgavity, and send those materials back to Earth in a reentry capsule. Manufacturing materials in the microgravity environment, and absence of dust particles, is beneficial for certain pharmaceuticals, fiber optics, and computer chips. In July 2021, Varda Space received US$42 million in a funding round from various venture capitalists, after receiving US$9 million in an initial funding round in December 2020.[2]

In August 2021, Varda Space Industries announced it had signed a contract with Rocket Lab to acquire three Photon satellite buses, with an option to purchase a fourth, to carry out missions to build the space station. The first bus was delivered in Q2 2023.[3][4] In October 2021, Varda selected SpaceX as a launch provider for the first four launches.[4]

Varda Space launched its first 300 kg (660 lb) spacecraft on Falcon 9's Transporter-8 mission in June 2023. Varda's first spacecraft is focused on demonstrating the ability to produce pharmaceuticals in microgravity. Returning the capsule to Earth was planned for mid August 2023.[5] Varda Space launched the first vehicle with approval from both the FAA and SpaceX to launch with the understanding Varda, the FAA, and the landing site at UTTR would deliver a reentry licence before the proposed reentry date. The first proposed reentry date was denied on September 6, 2023, due to issues between the FAA regulatory requirements and the landing site.[6] Varda subsequently started exploring options to direct capsule reentry to the Koonnibba Test Range in Australia.[7] However, on February 14, 2024, Varda was successfully granted a re-entry licence by the FAA, and Winnebago-1 reentered on US soil on February 21, 2024 at 21:40 UTC.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sheetz, Michael (29 July 2021). "Space start-up Varda, founded by SpaceX and Founders Fund veterans, aims to build factories in orbit". CNBC. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  2. ^ Alamalhodaei, Aria (29 July 2021). "Varda Space Industries closes $42M Series A for off-planet manufacturing". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  3. ^ Alamalhodaei, Aria (11 August 2021). "Space manufacturing startup Varda inks deal with Rocket Lab for three spacecraft". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b Foust, Jeff (11 October 2021). "Varda Space selects SpaceX for launch of first space manufacturing satellite". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Forget space tourism. This company wants to make drug manufacturing the next big extraterrestrial business". 12 June 2023. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  6. ^ Clark, Stephen (21 September 2023). "Permission denied for reentry of Varda's orbiting experiment capsule". ArsTechnica. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  7. ^ Clark, Stephen (20 October 2023). "Varda looks to Australia after delays in obtaining US reentry approval". ArsTechnica. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  8. ^ Varda Space Industries [@VardaSpace] (21 February 2024). "Update #6 on Varda's W-1 Mission" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

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