A private company’s first in-space manufacturing project is about to come back to Earth.
Last week, California-based Varda Space Industries got permission from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to land the capsule from its W-1 mission in northern Utah.
If all goes according to plan, W-1’s 3-foot-wide (0.9 meters) conical capsule will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday (Feb. 21), Varda announced on Feb. 15 . The craft will land under parachutes at one of two U.S. military sites west of Salt Lake City — the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) or the neighboring Dugway Proving Ground.
Related: In-space manufacturing company Varda plans to land its reentry capsules in Australia: report
Varda offers customers the chance to manufacture products such as pharmaceuticals in space, a unique environment with considerable advantages, according to the company.
“These benefits primarily stem from the lack of convection and sedimentation forces, as well as the ability to form more perfect structures due to the absence of gravitational stresses,” Varda’s website states . “These effects are ‘locked’ into the material, typically through material crystallization, before being brought back to Earth .”