What machine is that he had in his hand?
Quote from: Tywin on 11/19/2024 03:16 amWhat machine is that he had in his hand?Artec Leo 3D scanner.
Great photo!! Looks like something out of a sci-fi film.
We are happy to announce that Varda received our FAA reentry license for our upcoming second mission launching in early November. This flight will advance pharmaceutical research as well as fly several payloads in support of NASA and other government partners.
Has there been any word on when the next mission is expected to take off?
We are excited to announce that our partners at @AFResearchLab have awarded Varda a flight services contract for reentry experimentation, named AFRL Prometheus.Prometheus addresses a national security need to accelerate the ability to conduct experiments in the extreme environment of reentry through low-cost and high cadence flights and will provide the reentry test community with iterative hypersonic and reentry S&T experimentation.
The four-year deal with AFRL, announced on Nov. 26, leverages Varda’s W-Series reentry capsules as platforms to test payloads at hypersonic speeds. The spacecraft are built on Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite bus, Through a partnership agreement, NASA Ames produced the thermal protection material, called C-PICA (Conformal Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator).[...]Varda’s next mission, W-2, is scheduled for early 2025. This mission is designed to showcase the Varda Hypersonic Testbed vehicle. The capsule will carry an AFRL-developed spectrometer payload named OSPREE (Optical Sensing of Plasmas in the Reentry Environment) to collect critical data during atmospheric descent.
Rocket Lab USA, has successfully delivered its second Pioneer spacecraft to Vandenberg Space Force Base and completed production and testing of a third for Varda Space Industries, Inc. (“Varda”), the world's first orbital pharmaceutical processing and hypersonic Earth re-entry logistics company.The two spacecraft are part of a four-vehicle contract between Rocket Lab and Varda, aimed at revolutionizing commercial manufacturing in space. Designed, built, and tested at Rocket Lab’s state-of-the-art Spacecraft Production Complex in Long Beach, California, the Pioneer platform serves as the enabler of Varda’s innovative missions.[...]For Varda’s second mission, scheduled for launch in Q1 of 2025, Rocket Lab and Varda will once again conduct in-space operations, reentry positioning maneuvers, but this time deorbit the spacecraft over Australia and land Varda’s capsule at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.Rocket Lab’s ability to complete production and testing of a third spacecraft for Varda less than two months after completion of the second is testament to the Company’s vertical integration strategy and recent scaling of satellite production capability. By vertically integrating design, component manufacturing, satellite integration and testing, Rocket Lab has optimized schedule and cost efficiency in satellite production.
We are happy to announce that Varda received our FAA reentry license for our third mission launching in March.This flight, like mission two, will advance pharmaceutical research as well as fly several payloads in support of NASA and other government partners.
W-2 has successfully launched and been deployed into sun synchronous orbit. In addition to our own research that aims to expand the capability and capacity of our pharmaceutical hardware, W-2 carries payloads from Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA Ames Research Center. W-2 will stay in orbit for the next few weeks until its planned reentry into South Australia at the the Koonibba Test Range, operated by Southern Launch. Thank you for the support and to Rocket Lab and SpaceX for your partnership.
As the final destination for the W-3 mission, it is exciting to see the W-3 spacecraft heading to Vandenberg Space Force Base ready for launch.Both the W-2 mission (currently on orbit) and the W-3 mission are a collaboration between Southern Launch, Varda Space Industries and Rocket Lab. We can't wait to welcome these spacecraft back to Earth at the Koonibba Test Range and help usher in the next evolution of on-orbit manufacturing!https://www.rocketlabusa.com/updates/rocket-lab-delivers-third-in-orbit-manufacturing-spacecraft-for-varda-space-industries
Historic moment as capsule touches down at Koonibba Test RangeA capsule that aims to create pharmaceutical drugs in orbit has re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and landed at South Australia’s Koonibba Test Range.Southern Launch, which operates the site, confirmed Varda’s W-2 spacecraft touched down using a parachute at 1:02 am local time and was monitored on the way down with tracking telescopes........The capsule will now undergo processing at Southern Launch’s facilities before it heading to Los Angeles for further analysis.“This mission marks an incredible step forward for Australia as the global landing site for re-entries and the in-space manufactured goods the capsules carry,” said Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp.
TOUCHDOWN-UNDER! Congratulations @VardaSpace for the successful landing of your second reentry capsule Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range.Our Pioneer spacecraft powered the W-2 mission capsule as it carried an Air Force Research Laboratory spectrometer and employed a heatshield developed with @NASAAmes.Looking forward to the next W series mission launch next month!Read more: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/updates/touchdown-for-in-space-manufacturing-mission-rocket-labs-pioneer-spacecraft-delivers-re-entry-for-vardas-in-space-manufacturing-capsule-in-south-australia/📷: William Godwin, courtesy Varda Space Industries
We can confirm that at 6:32 AM PT the W-2 capsule landed safely at the Koonibba Test Range, operated by @SouthernLaunch, becoming the first-ever commercial spacecraft to reenter on Australian soil.
We will share more details soon, but for now, we’re proud to have successfully completed our second mission. Welcome home, W-2! And congratulations to all our partners @SouthernLaunch @RocketLab @SpaceX @FAANews @AFResearchLab @NASAAmes @AusSpaceAgency
Coming up next is our third launch, which will put W-3 in orbit — we are working hard to make this so common that it’s boring.
Reentry from space to Earth like you've never seen it before. Varda Space Industries, together with our partners at Rocket Lab and Southern Launch, reentered the first commercial space capsule to land on Australian soil on Feb. 27, 2025.
