Will Bruey’s future visions materialize faster than many anticipate. According to the Varda Space Industries CEO, within a decade, observers at a landing site could witness several specialized spacecraft descending towards Earth nightly like shooting stars, each carrying space-manufactured pharmaceuticals. Within 15 to 20 years, he suggests, sending a working-class person to orbit for a month will be more economical than supporting them on Earth.
Bruey’s optimism stems from witnessing ambitious business plans become reality during his time as an engineer at SpaceX.
“I recall my initial project at SpaceX involved Falcon 9’s third flight,” he stated at TechCrunch’s recent Disrupt event. Since then, the partially reusable, two-stage, medium-lift launch vehicle has successfully completed almost 600 missions. “Had someone mentioned ‘reusable rockets’ and ‘[we’ll see as] many [of these] flights as daily flights out of LAX,’ I would have thought, ‘[maybe in] 15 to 20 years,’ and this has the same futuristic feel.”
Varda has already validated its foundational concept. In February 2024, following a prolonged regulatory process, the company became only the third corporate entity to retrieve something from orbit – ritonavir crystals, an HIV drug – joining SpaceX and Boeing in this select group. Since then, it has executed a few missions.
The company returns its pharmaceuticals to Earth inside the W-1 capsule, a compact, conical spacecraft roughly 90 centimeters in diameter, 74 centimeters in height, and weighing under 90 kilograms (about the size of a large kitchen trash can). These capsules are launched on SpaceX rideshare missions as needed, hosted by a Rocket Lab spacecraft bus that supplies power, communications, propulsion, and control while orbiting.
Why manufacture crystals in space? In microgravity, the usual terrestrial forces disrupting crystal formation – such as sedimentation and gravity’s pull on developing crystals – largely vanish. Varda asserts that this allows for finer control over crystallization, enabling the creation of crystals with consistent sizes or even innovative polymorphs (distinct structural arrangements of the same molecule). These enhancements can lead to tangible advantages: improved stability, enhanced purity, and extended drug shelf life.
The process is not rapid. Pharmaceutical manufacturing may require weeks or months in orbit. Once finished, the capsule separates from the spacecraft bus and hurtles back through Earth’s atmosphere at speeds exceeding 30,000 kilometers per hour, surpassing Mach 25. A heat shield composed of NASA-developed carbon ablator material safeguards the cargo within, and a parachute ensures a gentle landing.
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Bruey believes Varda is often misunderstood. He clarifies that the company is not “in the space industry; we’re in-space industry.” Space is viewed as “just another destination for shipping.”
He suggests the core business is quite ordinary, likening it to a bioreactor, or simply an oven, with familiar controls – temperature, stir rate, pressure – and proposing that Varda adds a “gravity knob.”
“Forget about space for a moment,” Bruey suggested. “We simply have this unique oven in our warehouse where we can develop formulations not otherwise possible.”
It’s important to note that Varda is not discovering new drugs or creating new molecules. Its aim is to broaden the possibilities for existing, approved drugs.
This is not merely theoretical science. Companies like Bristol Myers Squibb and Merck have been conducting pharmaceutical crystallization experiments on the International Space Station for years, confirming the concept’s viability. Varda states it is simply commercializing the process by creating the infrastructure for consistent, reliable execution at a scale relevant to the pharmaceutical sector.
Two key developments have made this possible now. First, space launches are now readily available and predictable. “A decade ago, securing a launch was like chartering a flight. If you weren’t the primary mission payload, it felt like hitchhiking to get to orbit,” Bruey explained. “While still expensive, today it’s dependable; you can reserve a slot, and we [have] scheduled launches years in advance.”
Second, companies like Rocket Lab have begun producing commercially available satellite buses. Purchasing Photon buses from Rocket Lab and integrating them with Varda’s pharmaceutical manufacturing capsules was a significant breakthrough.
However, only the most valuable products are economically feasible. This is why Varda began with pharmaceuticals; a drug commanding thousands of dollars per dose can absorb the transportation expenses.
The “seven domino” theory
When speaking with members of Congress, which Bruey says he frequently does, he presents what he terms the “seven domino theory.”
Domino one: reusable rockets. Achieved. Domino two: manufacturing drugs in orbit and returning them. Domino three is pivotal: securing a drug for clinical trials. “This is significant because it implies perpetual launch.”
This is where Varda’s business model distinguishes itself from all other space companies.
Consider the operations of satellite companies. SiriusXM launches satellites to broadcast radio. DirecTV launches satellites to transmit television. Even Starlink, with its extensive satellite network, primarily establishes a constellation – a network requiring no continuous launches once complete. These companies consider launch a capital investment. They invest in placing hardware in orbit, and then their task is done.
Varda operates differently. Each drug formulation necessitates manufacturing runs, and these runs depend on launches. Increased demand for the drugs translates to more launches.
This is significant because it alters the economics for launch providers. Instead of selling a limited number of launches for constellation deployment, they have a customer with (potentially) unlimited demand that increases with success. This consistent, scalable demand aids in justifying launch infrastructure fixed costs and lowers per-launch prices.
Domino four initiates the feedback loop: as Varda expands, costs decrease, making the next tier of drugs economically viable. More drugs lead to greater scale, further reducing costs – a cycle Bruey believes will “drive launch costs into the ground.”
Varda’s commercial viability remains to be seen, and space-manufactured drugs are not yet available in pharmacies. However, the beneficial cycle Bruey envisions will not only benefit Varda. Lower launch costs will open up space for other industries, including semiconductors, fiber optics, and specialized materials – all benefiting from microgravity but currently unable to justify the expense.
Eventually, Bruey tells his team, launch costs will decrease to the point where it becomes more cost-effective to send an employee to orbit for a month than to implement further automation.
“I foresee ‘Jane’ going to space for a month, similar to [working on] an oil rig. She will work at the drug factory for a month, return, and [become] the first individual to travel to space and back, generating more value than the cost of her trip.”
According to Bruey, this is the moment when “the invisible hand of the free market economy lifts us off our home planet.”
The near-death experience
Bruey recounted to TechCrunch that the path to these shooting star drug deliveries almost ended prematurely.
Varda launched W-1 in June 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission. The pharmaceutical manufacturing process inside the capsule proceeded as planned, producing Form III ritonavir crystals, a particular crystalline structure of the HIV drug challenging to produce on Earth. The experiments were completed within weeks.
However, the capsule simply . . . remained in orbit for six months. The issue was not technical, Bruey explained; Varda could not secure approval to return its W-1 capsule.
The Utah Test and Training Range, Varda’s intended landing site, exists to “test weapons and train warriors,” as Bruey described it. Space drugs did not fall under this category, so Varda was not a priority. Higher-priority military missions needing the range superseded Varda’s scheduled landing windows. Each postponement invalidated the company’s reentry license with the FAA, requiring a new approval process.
“There were 80 individuals in the office who had dedicated two and a half years to this project, and it’s in orbit, but we are unsure if it can return,” Bruey remembered.
The situation appeared dire from the outside. Observers perceived that Varda had been careless, launching without proper approvals. However, he clarified that the FAA had authorized Varda to launch without a finalized reentry license to stimulate the emerging commercial reentry sector.
The FAA had authorized Varda to launch without a finalized reentry license, encouraging the nascent commercial reentry industry.
“They encouraged us to proceed with our launch, with the understanding that we would continue to coordinate the license and the use of reentry timing with the range while in orbit,” Bruey explained.
The true challenge was that this was the first attempted commercial land reentry. No established protocol existed for the Utah range to coordinate with the FAA. Both entities felt solely responsible for the liability.
Varda explored every possible alternative. Water landing? The capsule does not float; it would be lost. Australia? A possibility, and conversations began. But Bruey stated he made a decision: no compromises.
“Either you push regulatory boundaries to create this future, or you don’t,” he asserted. “For Varda to succeed, regular land landings are necessary. So, we accepted the challenge and committed to finding a solution.”
While its first mission was stranded in orbit, the company continued production on the next capsule. It continued hiring.
In February 2024, eight months after launch, W-1 finally returned. It landed as planned at the Utah Test and Training Range, becoming the first commercial spacecraft to land on a military test range and the first to land on U.S. soil under the FAA’s Part 450 licensing framework, introduced in 2021 to enhance commercial space operations flexibility.
Varda now has landing sites in both the U.S. and Australia and is the first company to hold an FAA Part 450 operator license, enabling reentries into the U.S. without resubmitting complete safety documentation for each flight.
Additionally, Varda has a secondary business that arose from necessity: hypersonic testing.
Very few objects traverse the atmosphere at Mach 25. Conditions at those speeds are extreme and unique: temperatures reach thousands of degrees, creating a plasma sheath around the vehicle. The air itself undergoes chemical reactions as molecules break apart and recombine. These conditions are impossible to replicate on Earth, even in the most sophisticated wind tunnels.
The Air Force and other defense agencies need to test materials, sensors, navigation systems, and communications equipment in real hypersonic conditions. Traditionally, this would necessitate dedicated test flights costing upwards of $100 million each and involving significant risk.
Varda offers an alternative. Its W-1 capsules already reenter at Mach 25. The company can integrate sensors, test new thermal protection materials, or validate equipment in the actual flight environment rather than in approximations. The capsule serves as a wind tunnel, with reentry as the test.
Varda has already conducted experiments for the Air Force Research Laboratory, including an optical emission spectroscopy payload that captured in-situ shock layer measurements during reentry.
Unsurprisingly, investors are enthusiastic about Varda’s story. The company raised $329 million as of its Series C round last July, primarily allocated to constructing the company’s pharmaceutical lab in El Segundo. It is also recruiting structural biologists and crystallization scientists to study more complex molecules, including biologics like monoclonal antibodies, a $210 billion market according to Bruey.
Many things must occur between now and then for Varda to successfully enter that market, as well as to make an impact on its current target market. However, if Bruey is correct, “then” is approaching faster than most people currently imagine.
