A CAPSULE bringing a space-grown antiviral drug back to Earth has filmed its “spectacular” 175,000mph reentry into the atmosphere.
The jaw-dropping clip shows exactly what it would look like to be in the front seat of a capsule returning to Earth before a parachute-assisted landing.
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Onlookers have described the recorded reentry as “Freaking spectacular” and called the dynamic range of the camera inside as “wild”.
“Going from pure black space with visible stars, to pointing directly at the Sun, without a noticeable change in exposure. Bonkers,” a YouTube user commented beneath the video.
The small W-1 capsule, built by Varda Space Industries, launched into space aboard a SpaceX rocket in 2023 and touched down on Earth again on 21 February.
The capsule was inside a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft which formed part the SpaceX Transport-8 rideshare mission that carried 72 spacecraft to orbit last June.
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Gravity is kind of like a parameter. If you put a temperature knob on an oven, you create a whole world of new recipes and new food you can create.
Varda CEO Will Bruey
Varda’s space capsule demonstrates an unexpected commercial market that is emerging in the space sector, which is known as ‘microgravity as a service’.
Materials and chemical reactions behave differently in microgravity in comparison to how the behave on Earth.
Companies like Varda can sell space in their capsules – and time in microgravity – to businesses in a whole host of sectors to manufacture new products in space.
Inside the capsule, Varda was able to grow crystals of a drug called ritonavir, which can be used to treat HIV and hepatitis C.
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“We manufacture pharmaceuticals in space,” Varda CEO Will Bruey explained in an interview on Marketplace.
“Removing gravity allows us to make medicines you otherwise couldn’t on Earth.
“Gravity is kind of like a parameter. If you put a temperature knob on an oven, you create a whole world of new recipes and new food you can create.
“Similarly, if you can change gravity, you can also change the chemical process for drug formulations.”
The full footage, from separation to touchdown, is 27minutes long.
Whereas the five minute clip shows the capsule exiting Low Earth Orbit (LEO), where the majority of today’s satellites live.
At the end of the shortened video, you’ll see a pair of muddy legs retrieve the capsule and gather the parachute.
According to Varda, the capsule reached Mach 25, which meets Nasa’s criteria for hypersonic speeds.
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