Varda's first manufacturing satellite and reentry vehicle attached to a Rocket Lab Photon bus.
rocket laboratory
Space startup Varda has received long-awaited approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to bring its first spacecraft back to Earth after a stint making medicines in space.
Varda's small W-Series 1 capsule, or W-1, has been stuck in orbit since its launch eight months ago. The company has been waiting for regulatory approval to make a landing attempt in Utah, at the Utah Air Force Test and Training Range. The FAA confirmed Wednesday that it had issued the license to Varda.
The FAA approval means Varda will attempt to land the W-1 mission on February 21.
“We are incredibly proud to have this opportunity with our government partners and appreciate their dedication to safe innovation in the United States,” Varda said in a statement.
The W-1 mission is a demonstration of the company's automated in-space manufacturing process. Last year, Varda announced that the W-1 mission successfully produced the drug Ritonavir.
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While space manufacturing is not a novel concept, Varda wants to take the process to the next level: launching and returning space-made products more quickly. The startup plans to make materials that are more lucrative when manufactured in orbit, such as fiber optic cables, pharmaceuticals or semiconductors, due to the advantages of manufacturing in a weightless environment.
Varda's system uses rocket laboratory Photon spacecraft as the backbone of their operation. The start-up adds its manufacturing module, along with a capsule protected with a heat shield to survive the intense re-entry process through the Earth's atmosphere.
The company previously said it hopes to return a few kilograms of material made on the W-1 mission.
