The U.S. Air Force recently rejected Varda Space Industries' request to land its capsule at a training area in Utah, delaying the startup's plans to showcase its in-space manufacturing efforts. An Air Force spokesman said the company was still awaiting clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to return.
Varda had planned to bring back a capsule containing crystals of ritonavir, a drug used to treat HIV, in mid-July. After announcing the postponement, the company was targeting September 5th and 7th. The news was confirmed by the U.S. Air Force.
The company declined to comment, but posted on X that the "spacecraft is operating well on all systems" and that it is continuing to work with regulators to bring the capsule back to Earth.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Air Force said in an emailed statement, "The original scheduled 5th and 7th are their primary time windows, and due to the overall safety, risk and impact analysis, the request to use the Utah Test and Training Range as a landing site is currently not approved. In a separate process, the FAA has not yet granted reentry clearance. All organizations are continuing to work hard to explore recovery options."
The spokesperson further said Varda was "working to come up with an alternative plan," but would not elaborate further on whether that meant finding an alternative landing site. There is only one commercial space re-entry license currently listed on the FAA's website, that of SpaceX's Dragon capsule.
A draft environmental assessment for the Varda re-entry mission prepared by the FAA in March noted that Varda initially considered six areas to land the capsule: Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR); White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; Fallon Range Training Center, Nevada; Nevada Test and Training Range; Barry M. Goldwater Range, Arizona; and Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility Boardman, Oregon.
Only UTTR met all of Varda's six-point site selection criteria, which included being able to accommodate the entire proposed 500-square-mile landing zone. UTTR has previously hosted other capsule recovery missions, including NASA's 2004 Genesis sample return mission and the 2006 Stardust comet sampling mission.
But despite these precedents, Varda's proposed re-entry cadence - once a month by 2026 - is new. This may be one reason why reentry permits take so long. In fact, an Air Force spokesman said the process was "setting the right precedent" for future commercial re-entry activities.
"Our goal at the Utah Test and Training Range remains to work with customers requesting re-entry missions in a safe, secure and sustainable manner, on which Varda (and potential future partners) can model their investments, engagement and activities," the spokesperson said. "We also emphasize that this is a whole-of-government and inter-agency process to set the right precedent for such activities in the future."
Varda is using Rocket Lab's Photon spacecraft for this mission and at least three other follow-up missions. Its 120-kilogram manufacturing module sits atop Photon and provides power, data and attitude control for the mission. After re-entry, Rocket Lab's spacecraft will burn up in the atmosphere while Varda's capsule will continue flying, release its parachute and land on Earth.