--- title: "Drug Manufacturing Spacecraft Finally Cleared to Return to Earth" description: "The spacecraft, developed by Varda Space Industries, has spent over a year in space manufacturing protein crystals used to develop drugs." date: "2024-02-16" modified: "2024-02-16" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/drug-manufacturing-spacecraft-return-earth" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "space manufacturing" - "spacecraft" - "the digest" --- # Drug Manufacturing Spacecraft Finally Cleared to Return to Earth ![The spacecraft, developed by Varda Space Industries, has spent over a year in space manufacturing protein crystals used to develop drugs.]() *\Image: Rocket Labs\* ## The Comedown After eight months in orbit, with a good portion of that spent battling regulators, a spacecraft used to manufacture drugs off Earth is finally coming home — with its space-age pharmaceuticals in tow. Developed by Varda Space Industries, the W-Series 1 spacecraft was launched in June without a finalized reentry permit. The original aim was to have the capsule, which weighs 200 pounds, return to Earth as early as the following month, spending its time in orbit synthesizing crystals used to develop medicinal drugs. But things didn't go as planned, and the startup struggled to obtain permission to come back from the US Federal Aviation Administration. Now, over half a year later, the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportion has finally issued the reentry permit, and Varda can breathe a sigh of relief. "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, [as quoted by *TechCrunch*](). ## Crystal Clear Varda's goal is to take advantage of manufacturing in microgravity conditions, which it hopes could one day be a lucrative industry. Its mission is inspired in part by [experiments conducted]() on the International Space Station, [*CNN* noted](), which found that the protein crystals formed in space are significantly higher quality than those made on Earth. These crystals allow scientists to analyze the structure of a specific protein in greater detail, which in turn allows them to make a more effective drug. For this mission, Varda's first, the company manufactured crystals for the drug ritonavir, which is used to treat HIV/AIDS. As well as potentially heralding an era of microgravity manufacturing, it's the first time a commercial company has been licensed by the FAA to land on US soil, Varda said in the statement. ## Bumbling Bureaucracy Varda's capsule was launched on the SpaceX Transporter-8 mission in June. Since being deployed, it's managed to autonomously manufacture the crystals without any significant hiccups. Bringing it down, though, proved to be the real headache. Perhaps it was shortsighted to launch without a reentry permit in the first place, but nevertheless, a sluggish bureaucracy could also be to blame. Part of the problem, [noted *IEEE Spectrum*]() in October, was that getting permission required the cooperation of three different bodies: the US Air Force, and two offices of the FAA. Straining things further, Varda said it was the first company to apply for a reentry license under new regulations called Part 450 — so it was new territory for all parties involved, Its application was initially denied by the FAA in September for not complying with regulatory requirements, but in October it received an encouraging go-ahead from the military, before the FAA followed suit in February. Now with full approval, the capsule is set to land in a stretch of empty desert called the Utah Test and Training Range. After barreling through the atmosphere, the autonomous craft will deploy a parachute to slow itself down before landing on February 21. **More on spacecraft:** *[NASA's Launches Mission to Study Earth's 'Invisible Universe']()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()