Varda Space Industries

Our Pioneer spacecraft can support a wide variety of missions, including playing host to space factories!

Rocket Lab will produce Pioneer spacecraft for in-space pharmaceutical processing company Varda Space Industries that will integrate with Varda’s W-series capsule, enabling high-value pharmaceuticals to be processed in space and returned to Earth in a Varda built re-entry capsule.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to producing more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. After launch, Rocket Lab’s Pioneer will position the spacecraft in an operational orbit and provide station keeping. Pioneer will support Varda’s 120 kg manufacturing and re-entry capsules with power, data, and attitude control. All four Pioneer spacecraft will also incorporate Rocket Lab-designed and built spacecraft components, including radios, reaction wheels and star trackers. Rocket Lab's Pioneer will perform multiple burns with the 3D-printed Curie engine, acting as a highly capable propulsion system to place Varda's re-entry capsule on a return trajectory to Earth.

Until now, all in-space manufacturing research has been carried out on the International Space Station and other government owned space stations. This research has demonstrated that innovative materials and products can be created in the consistent microgravity environment of low-Earth orbit, an environment that can’t be replicated on Earth. Until now, manufacturing in orbit has been impossible to scale due to cost and lack of frequent reentry. However, because the W-series capsule and Pioneer spacecraft — a platform that does not require human tending in orbit, Varda can begin to scale development of life-saving medicines and lay the foundation needed to enable the orbital economy to scale.

The first Pioneer for Varda was launched in June 2023 and was successfully returned to Earth in February 2024.

More about Varda Space Industries: www.varda.com