Varda Space Industries has now raised $53 million in funding. This new startup in the space industry was founded by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov, a pair who have worked at SpaceX and Founders Fund for over a decade. 

Like SpaceX, Varda’s mission is ambitious; they want to be the first company to build factories in space. In an interview with CNBC, Will Bruey, the CEO of Varda, stated: “The Varda mission is to build the first space factory – essentially the first industrial park on orbit.” Varda is aiming at having its first mission in the first quarter of 2023. 

They raised over $42 million in a round of funding that involved investors like Khosla Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and Founders Fund. Before this round, they had initially raised $11 million in seed capital, which brings their total capital to over $53 million within less than a year after founding the company. 

Varda has so far assembled a team of 16 people, most of them coming from SpaceX and several other companies in the space industry. They aim to build a team of at least 40 people before the first launch. 

So, what exactly will Varda be manufacturing in space? According to their CEO Bruey, Varda will look to tap markets for products such as semiconductors, fiber optic cables, or pharmaceuticals – “extremely large” marketplaces here on the ground, Asparouhov said. He also noted: “Varda can exist because we don’t have to build the entire” technology system “ourselves,”

They may not be the first company to take goods to and from space stations, but they want to become the first to manufacture products right from space.

Asparouhov, the co-founder of Varda, noted that they would judge themselves based on their frequency of reentry because their goal is to bring value back on earth.

Varda is currently working on a three-piece spacecraft to kick off their journey. It consists of a commercially available spacecraft platform, the manufacturing module, and a heat shield-protected capsule to reenter the atmosphere and land under parachutes. Their first goal is to bring back products of at least 100 kg of material on earth. 

Regarding regulation, Varda is still in the preliminary design review level and in the final stages of being authorized by the regulators and other stakeholders. Many are wondering if Varda will beat the deadline for their first mission scheduled for Q1 2023. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the hottest regions globally, with an average annual temperature of about 95 Fahrenheit. Unlike some parts of the UAE, temperatures in Dubai regularly surpass the 115 Fahrenheit mark.

Dubai currently receives only 4 inches of rain throughout the year, way below the world average (39 inches). Because of the lackluster rain and hot temperatures, Dubai imports over 80% of its food since no meaningful agriculture can be done. 

But, the UAE government has now invested over $15 million into using artificial methods to induce rainstorms in Dubai to deal with the hot temperatures. 

In the last few weeks, there was a breakthrough in their efforts when meteorological officials released a video of rain over Ras al Khaimah and several other regions in the UAE. Scientists made this possible by using electrical charges from drones that manipulate the cloud and force them to release raindrops. 

This feat brings hope to many other regions worldwide that are facing the challenge of water scarcity and extremely high temperatures. One of the significant caveats in this research was that some tiny raindrops would evaporate due to hot temperatures even before they reached the ground. To overcome this, scientists had to ensure the electricity the drones hit the clouds with is enough to create larger raindrops. 

In his words, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the U.K. said:

“It’s moving to think that the rainfall technology I saw today, which is still being developed, may someday support countries in water-scarce environments like the UAE.” 

Even though cloud seeding technology is fascinating, there are still concerns about its short and long-term side effects. Some of the unfortunate incidents that happened in the past due to such technology include one when Russia mistakenly dropped a non-powderized block of cement on some homes. 

Heavy flooding is another catastrophic side effect that scientists have identified that we could face due to this kind of technology. 

Eight western states are already using the technology of inducing rain from the clouds in the USA, following Dubai’s footsteps. However, the challenge with this cloud seeding over the years has been determining its effectiveness in the short- and long term. This technology is in its infant stages and still has the potential if it turns out to be cost-effective and viable. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has finally approved Virgin Galactic, a spaceship company owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, to take passengers for space flights. This approval is a milestone that the likes of Blue Origin and SpaceX are yet to achieve. The FAA approved Virgin Galactic on June 25, 2021, following three test flights finalized on May 22.

In his words, the CEO of Virgin Galactic said, “Today’s approval by the FAA of our full commercial launch license, in conjunction with the success of our May 22 test flight, gives us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer.”

After their approval, Virgin Galactic recently sent Richard Branson on a very short test flight into space, a feat which has been perceived as overwhelmingly positive by some and underwhelmingly passive by others. 

According to Virgin Galactic, the first passenger flight will head into space by the end of 2022, although the exact dates are yet to be communicated. 

In other news, Jeff Bezos has officially announced taking his very first flight into space on July 20. Bezos, also the CEO of Blue Origin, will be heading to space along with his brother and two other passengers. 

Now that The FAA has approved Virgin Galactic, we expect SpaceX and Blue Origin to get the licenses for taking passengers on space flights pretty soon. As of now, Virgin Galactic seems to have won the race of being the first company to send a passenger flight to space. 

Virgin Galactic has sold over 600 tickets, each costing at least $250,000. This ticket is for a suborbital flight where people will get into earth’s orbit and experience a few minutes of weightlessness before coming back to earth. 

According to analysts, those who haven’t got tickets yet may pay up to $500,000 when Virgin Galactic reopens ticket sales later this year. The price for touring space is still very high for ordinary people, but as technology gets cheaper, these prices will gradually reduce.

Before the FAA approved Virgin Galactic, they had to do 3 test flights to ensure their spaceship was safe enough to take passengers into space. However, passengers are governed by an “informed consent” standard in this kind of flight, so they will be required to sign a waiver and be informed of the risks involved. 

This FAA approval is a green light for the space industry, so we expect several spaceship companies to speed up their (via Virgin Galactic) in the coming years.  Analysts expect the spaceship industry to be worth more than $8 Billion by 2030.