Touchdown for In-Space Manufacturing Mission: Rocket Lab’s Pioneer Spacecraft Delivers Re-Entry for Varda’s In-Space Manufacturing Capsule in South Australia

February 28, 2025

Rocket Lab USA, Inc 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.

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.