Varda Space Industries W-Series 1 completed a 27-hour drug-manufacturing experiment on June 30, 2023, growing crystals of Ritonavir drug while flying in Low Earth Orbit. The data received at the end of the process indicate that everything went well and the crystallization of Ritonavir appears to have been nominal.
The product is now ready to return to the ground in Utah, aboard a brand-new hypersonic capsule built by Varda itself, as part of its first re-entry test.
Over the last day, for the first time ever, orbital drug processing happened outside of a government-run space station
— Varda Space Industries (@VardaSpace) June 30, 2023
Our crystallization of Ritonavir appears to have been nominal
This is our first step in commercializing microgravity and building an industrial park in LEO pic.twitter.com/BmTS85efCp
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Varda Platform: from in-space manufacturing to surface delivery
Varda Space Industries’ mission is to provide its clients with in-space manufacturing and re-entry logistics services. To achieve this ambitious goal, they developed the first spacecraft made up of three main components: a satellite bus (currently a customized Rocket Lab Photon), a payload module that acts as the production facility, and a re-entry capsule.
The operating model is quite simple. First, the spacecraft is launched into its destination orbit by using a commercial launch vehicle. Then the manufacturing process can start and the products are stored in the re-entry capsule. The satellite bus brings the spacecraft into the planned re-entry trajectory. The capsule separates and descends at hypersonic speed (around Mach 25), delivering the products back to the planet’s surface.
Varda’s initial goal for in-space manufacturing is focused on the synthesis of small-molecule drugs in space. Its first spacecraft, W-Series 1, has just tested the ability of the production facility to successfully crystallize small molecules of Ritonavir, a drug used for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. The experiment was designed with the support of Improved Pharma and a paper describing it has been published co-authored by Varda itself.
“SPACE DRUGS HAVE FINISHED COOKING BABY!!“
– Delian Asparouhov, co-founder of Varda Space Industries.
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Space drugs are ready: will the brand new hypersonic capsule test also be successful?
Following the success of Ritonavir crystal production, Varda is waiting for the FAA’s final approval to insert the brand new hyper-sonic capsule in the re-entry trajectory. Even the capsule is a test bed intended to improve the hypersonic re-entry technology and to allow its clients to test hardware at hypersonic speed.
Varda is already planning further missions to space, having just ordered the fourth Photon bus to Rocket Lab. It is not yet known if the next mission will be another pharmaceutical production facility or one for semiconductors or fiber optics manufacturing, which are both promising areas for Varda’s ambitions.
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