Varda Space Industries
Varda Space Industries is a privately held American space research company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in 2020, the company aims to be the first to build a space station with industrial use, where it will take advantage of low gravity to manufacture things better than on Earth. Investors in the company include venture capitalists such as Khosla Ventures and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. History. Varda Space was founded in November 2020 by Will Bruey, Delian Asparouhov, and Daniel Marshall. Will Bruey is a former employee of SpaceX, and Asparouhov and Marshall are associated with  Founders Fund of Peter Thiel. Varda Space began research into building an industrial space station in space. The microgravity environment and absence of dust particles allows for the manufacturability of fine technical products such as computer chips with higher precision and quality than on Earth's surface. This regime also allows for the manufacture of completely new materials and products there, including fiber optics and pharmaceuticals. In July 2021, Varda Space received US$42 million in a funding round from various venture capitalists, after receiving US$9 million in an initial funding round in December 2020. In August 2021, Varda  Space announced that it had signed a contract with Rocket Lab to acquire three Photon satellite bus to carry out missions to build the space station. The first delivery is expected in Q1 2023. In October 2021 Varda Space selected SpaceX for launch of first space manufacturing satellite. Varda Space will launch its first spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket in early 2023 to demonstrate the ability to produce a wide range of materials in microgravity.