Rocket Lab delivers second spacecraft and completes third for Varda Space Industries

Rocket Lab delivers second spacecraft and completes third for Varda Space Industries
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2024

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has successfully delivered its second Pioneer spacecraft to Vandenberg Space Force Base and finalized production and testing of a third spacecraft for Varda Space Industries, Inc. ("Varda"), a leader in orbital pharmaceutical processing and hypersonic Earth re-entry logistics. The delivery marks a significant milestone under a four-spacecraft contract between the two companies, designed to advance commercial space manufacturing capabilities.

The Pioneer spacecraft, developed at Rocket Lab's Spacecraft Production Complex in Long Beach, California, supports Varda's innovative missions by hosting the company's 120kg reentry capsule. Leveraging microgravity conditions in space, Varda conducts operations that are unfeasible on Earth. Rocket Lab's Pioneer platform provides vital systems, including power, communications, propulsion, and attitude control, enabling the capsule's precise positioning and safe return to Earth.

Rocket Lab also supports Varda's operations with mission-critical services, including launch support, commissioning, and reentry logistics. The first Pioneer spacecraft launched in 2023 and successfully supported crystal growth of ritonavir, an HIV/AIDS treatment drug, inside Varda's capsule. After eight months on orbit, the capsule deorbited and safely landed in Utah in February 2024.

The second mission, scheduled for Q1 2025, will perform similar operations, with the capsule deorbiting and landing at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.

Rocket Lab's swift production and testing of the third spacecraft - completed within two months of the second - underscores the company's vertical integration strategy. By combining design, component manufacturing, satellite integration, and testing, Rocket Lab achieves optimized cost efficiency and accelerated production schedules for satellite systems.

"We're setting a new standard for rapid, reliable satellite production," said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck. "Each Pioneer spacecraft for Varda's missions is a perfect demonstration of our growing capability as an end-to-end space company that delivers design, manufacturing, integration, testing, launch support and in-space operations to get our customers' innovative ideas on orbit quickly and cost effectively."

"This mission is another step toward high cadence reentry," said Varda CEO and co-founder Will Bruey. "Soon, reentry will be as common as launch."