WASHINGTON – Varda Space Industries launched its sixth reentry capsule March 30, carrying U.S. government-funded experiments designed to operate in the extreme conditions of hypersonic flight.
The W-6 mission launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Transporter-16 rideshare carrying 119 payloads. These included satellites deployed directly from the Falcon 9 as well as payloads hosted on orbital transfer vehicles.
Based in El Segundo, California, Varda operates a series of spacecraft intended to harvest materials in microgravity and return them to Earth. Its W-series capsules orbit for weeks or months before reentering the atmosphere at speeds in excess of Mach 25, exposing onboard hardware to temperatures and stresses equivalent to those experienced by advanced missile systems.
That profile has attracted US defense customers. The W-6 capsule carries government-supported payloads, including an autonomous navigation system developed by Rhea Space Activity with funding from the Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory.
The system is designed to determine the position of the vehicle during re-entry, when a plasma envelope forms around the spacecraft and blocks GPS signals and radio communications. Blackout periods have long been a challenge for vehicles returning from space.
“Composed of two cameras and a flight computer, the unit will collect imagery during hypersonic flight,” RIA Space Activity said. “The launch will allow RSA to test its proprietary algorithm, AutoNav, on a hypersonic vehicle.”
The software uses onboard cameras to observe objects in low Earth orbit and match them with objects listed in the US Space Force’s Unified Data Library to estimate position. The company said it is particularly difficult to collect imagery during re-entry because the plasma sheath obscures visibility.
Rhea Space Activity said its navigation system provides an alternative to satellite-based navigation. “Celestial navigation through the plasma sheath is a reliable way to navigate the reentry system during GPS and radio blackout periods,” said Elliot Sanders, the company’s national security coordinator.
Sandia National Laboratories’ thermal protection materials and NASA’s heat shield tiles are also installed on the capsule’s exterior, both of which are instrumented to collect performance data during descent.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Varda a multi-year contract to fly government payloads, allowing the agency to test materials, sensors and components at high speeds and recover them for analysis.
Varda is aiming to increase flight cadence with its W-series vehicles, while establishing its capsule as a repeatable test platform.
