Incredible footage released by Varda Space Industries provides a first-person view of the space capsule’s fiery re-entry and descent back to Earth from the moment it leaves its orbiting launch vehicle. Varda’s W-1 capsule landed in the first for a commercial company on February 21 at the Utah Test and Training Range, a military site. It spent about eight months in low-Earth orbit and remained in regulatory limbo while the company awaited the government approval it needed to land on US soil. .
“Here’s our capsule tearing through the atmosphere at mach 25, no renders, no raw footage,” the company posted. along with reentry clips. Varda also shared a 28-minute video of the W-1’s complete journey home from LEO .
Working with Rocket Lab for the mission, Varda is trying to develop mini-laboratories in orbit that can produce drugs — in this case, the HIV drug ritonavir. Its W-1 capsule was attached to Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite “bus,” which the company said would provide power, communications and altitude control for the capsule before launch. Photon successfully brought the capsule back into position for re-entry last week, then burned up in Earth’s atmosphere. informed. Now the capsule is back, Ars Technica reports that ritonavir crystals grown in orbit will be analyzed by Advanced Pharma, an Indiana-based drug company.
