Rocket Lab designed and built the Pioneer
spacecraft that hosted Varda’s capsule on orbit for six weeks
carrying payloads for the U.S. Air Force Research Lab and NASA. The
companies have concluded reentry and recovery operations.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the
Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, today
announced its custom Pioneer spacecraft for Varda Space Industries
(“Varda”), a leading orbital pharmaceuticals and hypersonic
re-entry logistics company, successfully positioned Varda’s capsule
for return to Earth at 1:52 pm UTC on February 27. The capsule
landed at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia, operated by
Southern Launch.
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Rocket Lab’s Pioneer Spacecraft Delivers
Re-Entry for Varda’s In-Space Manufacturing Capsule in South
Australia. Credit: William Godwin, courtesy Varda Space
Industries
Rocket Lab’s Pioneer spacecraft delivered Varda’s W-2 mission
that included a hypersonic re-entry capsule carrying a spectrometer
from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and a heatshield with
a Thermal Protection System (TPS) developed in collaboration with
NASA’s Ames Research Center. The mission also carried an expanded
bioreactor which will increase Varda’s capacity for processing
pharmaceuticals in orbit. The W2 mission is a follow-on from the
companies’ first mission, W-1, which operated on orbit for eight
months before successfully returning Varda’s capsule to Earth in
early 2024. W-1 was a successful demonstration of the world’s first
space manufacturing mission conducted outside of the International
Space Station.
Following the launch of the W-2 mission on January 14, Rocket
Lab operated the spacecraft on orbit for six weeks, delivering
critical mission functions for Varda’s 120kg capsule including
power, communications, propulsion, and attitude control. The
Pioneer spacecraft was designed, built, and tested at Rocket Lab’s
Spacecraft Production Complex and headquarters in Long Beach,
California. It integrates Rocket Lab’s vertically developed
components and systems, including star trackers, propulsion
systems, reaction wheels, solar panels, flight software, radios,
composite structures, tanks, separation systems, and more.
To return the capsule to Earth, Rocket Lab conducted deorbit,
and re-entry targeting maneuvers of the Pioneer spacecraft, setting
Varda’s capsule on a precise course to land in the Koonibba Test
Range operated by Southern Launch. Rocket Lab successfully executed
a series of three propulsion maneuvers or “burns” to align the
vehicle for its re-entry path. Starting from a 500km circular
orbit, Pioneer initiates a burn to slow things down, dropping out
perigee to Earth to 300km. A second engine burn raised the orbits
apogee to 900km aligning the spacecraft for its re-entry path.
Next, the Pioneer spacecraft conducts a third and final burn that
releases Varda’s capsule from approximately 470km altitude. The
Varda team led the final mission phase, including parachute
deployment, touchdown and recovery. Varda will now analyze the
payloads and mission results to inform future missions.
“When Rocket Lab was founded, our initial focus was getting
things to space. Now our team have become experts in returning them
to Earth too,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck.
“We’re immensely proud to continue our support of Varda’s inspiring
vision with a second successful in-orbit mission and re-entry using
our Pioneer spacecraft. Missions like W-2 underscore our
exceptional capabilities as an end-to-end space company enabling
unique and complex programs that unlock the full potential of
space.”
"Varda is a leader in repeatable, reliable reentry from orbit to
Earth, and the W-2 mission further solidifies this,” said Wendy
Shimata, VP of autonomous systems. “With more re-entries coming on
the heels of this one, the team at Varda is excited to continue to
build toward a thriving orbital economy.”
The W-2 mission is the second of four Rocket Lab Pioneer
spacecraft ordered by Varda to support orbital processing, with the
third spacecraft complete and shipped to Vandenberg Space Force
Base ready for launch in the coming weeks.
+ About Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with
an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable
launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and
on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier, and more
affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach,
California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small
orbital launch vehicle, a family of spacecraft platforms, and the
Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for
constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January
2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second
most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered
more than 200 satellites to orbit for private and public sector
organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific
research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate
monitoring, and communications. Rocket Lab’s spacecraft platforms
have been selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars,
as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket
Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch
pads at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a
third launch pad in Virginia. To learn more, visit
www.rocketlabusa.com.
+ Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by
the safe harbor provisions for forward looking statements contained
in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
“Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements contained in
this press release other than statements of historical fact,
including, without limitation, statements regarding our launch and
space systems operations, launch schedule and window, safe and
repeatable access to space, Neutron development, operational
expansion and business strategy are forward-looking statements. The
words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “potential,”
“continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,”
“could,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “target,” and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements,
though not all forward-looking statements use these words or
expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees,
but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the
factors, risks and uncertainties included in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, as such
factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), accessible on
the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the Investor Relations section
of our website at www.rocketlabusa.com, which could cause our
actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the
forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such
forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of
the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such
forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim
any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views
to change.
+ About Varda:
Varda Space Industries is expanding the economic bounds of
humankind by designing and building the infrastructure needed to
make low Earth orbit accessible to industry, from in-orbit
production equipment to reliable and economical reentry capsules.
The company operates out of El Segundo, California with office and
industrial production space. You can follow Varda on X
(@vardaspace) and LinkedIn.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250228229452/en/
+ Rocket Lab Media Contact Lindsay McLaurin
media@rocketlabusa.com
+ Varda Media Contact: Alex Pearlman Media@varda.com
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