Rocket Lab completes second spacecraft for Varda Space Industries

Varda Space Industries has contracted with Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB, WKN: A3CY7P) to design, build, test and launch a total of four spacecraft on behalf of the company. Rocket Lab recently completed the second spacecraft in this series and has begun construction of the third.

These spacecraft for the W-2 and W-3 missions are being developed and manufactured by Varda Space Industries. Varda is the first company in the world to carry out pharmaceutical manufacturing and processing in space. Therefore, these missions are not only about a cost-effective and successful launch, but also about the subsequent flight time in space, the later re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere and a safe landing of the capsules on Earth.

The fact that Rocket Lab is entrusted with the development of the space systems, their launches and landings, and the interim care of the flight in space, is impressive proof that the company has successfully positioned itself as an end-to-end space company in recent years. As such, it is able to provide design, manufacturing, integration, testing, launch support and in-space operations from a single source to quickly and cost-effectively realize its customers’ innovative ideas.

Rocket Lab has successfully positioned itself as an end-to-end space company

The two spacecraft are part of a four-vehicle contract between Rocket Lab and Varda, which aims to revolutionize commercial manufacturing in space. Designed, built and tested at Rocket Lab’s state-of-the-art manufacturing complex in Long Beach, California, the Pioneer platform will serve as the foundation for Varda’s innovative missions.

A central part of Rocket Lab’s Pioneer platform is the reentry capsule. It uses microgravity conditions to perform operations or manufacturing processes in space that are difficult or impossible on Earth. Rocket Lab’s Pioneer spacecraft provides the basic power, communications, propulsion and attitude control systems for Varda’s 120-kilogram reentry capsule.

To enable the operations planned by Varda and to bring the capsule safely back to Earth, the Pioneer spacecraft maneuvers the capsule into the exact position and sets it on a course for reentry. Rocket Lab also provides crucial support during the missions for launch, commissioning, operations and reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

Rocket Lab and Varda Space Industries are aiming to build on the successes of the first mission next year

The first Pioneer spacecraft developed by Rocket Lab for Varda was launched in 2023. It spent eight months in orbit, where it successfully enabled the growth of crystals of the HIV/AIDS drug Ritonavir in the Varda capsule. The capsule was successfully retrieved from orbit after completion of the work and landed in the Utah desert in February 2024.

Varda’s second mission, scheduled for launch in Q1 2025, will see the partners perform space operations and reentry positioning maneuvers again. This time, however, Rocket Lab will deorbit the spacecraft over Australia and land Varda’s capsule at the Koonibba Test Range in southern Australia.

Rapid production and high cadence

Rocket Lab’s ability to complete the production and testing of a third spacecraft for Varda in less than two months from the completion of the second is a testament to the company’s vertical integration strategy and the recent scaling of satellite production capacity. By vertically integrating design, component manufacturing, satellite integration and testing, Rocket Lab has optimized schedule and cost efficiency in satellite production.

“We are setting new standards for fast and reliable satellite production,” says Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab. “Each Pioneer spacecraft for Varda’s missions is a perfect example of our growing capabilities as an end-to-end spaceflight company, providing design, manufacturing, integration, testing, launch support and in-space operations to get our customers’ innovative ideas into orbit quickly and cost-effectively.”