The Growing World of Coming Down
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As progress continues in new U.S. medium and heavy launch capabilities, more attention is being focused on bringing things (safely) back down, with the commercial sector leading the way with strong encouragement by the Pentagon. What services emerge and how prolific they will be is an open question over the next decade, but wonderful things are likely to emerge based on the need to bring back goods produced in LEO and the military’s need for delivering critical cargo to any location on the planet in rapid fashion.
Over the past two decades, two of the pathfinders for space commercialization have been the International Space Station and the Center for the Advancement of Science In Space (CASIS). Activities conducted onboard the research facility and engineering testbed have enabled fundamental research and proof-of-concept demonstrations for in-space production of low-defect fiber optic cable, unique pharmaceutical production, and 3D biofabrication of tissues and organs.
While ISS has provided a straightforward environment for plug-and-play and human-tended LEO experimentation, commercial companies are taking the next steps to turn experiments into products using autonomous in-orbit manufacturing. Varda Space Industries launched its second orbital processing and reentry capsule onboard a January 14, 2025, SpaceX rideshare mission to continue its research for producing improved pharmaceuticals in space. Varda’s W-2 also collected DoD bonus points in bringing things down, teaming with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and NASA’s Ames Research Center to characterize the plasma reentry environment at hypersonic speeds and further demonstrate heatshield technology.
Also onboard the January 14, 2025, rideshare was Inversion Space’s Ray reentry test vehicle. Last year, Inversion secured $44 million in first round venture funding and a $71 million Space Force contract through SpaceWERX, the latter supporting AFRL’s efforts to seed and foster the orbital cargo drop market. Inversion Space is hoping to launch its full-sized Arc vehicle in 2026.
Other early award winners in the orbital cargo drop market include Outpost, Sierra Space, and the aforementioned Varda. Outpost certainly is not hiding that it is thinking big, as in 10 tons and shipping container-size big, as well as smaller sized missions it plans to start launching in the 2026-2027 timeframe for R&D, technology maturation, and small-scale factory production. Sierra Space’s Axelerator is leaning into the defense market but certainly has the potential for commercial applications as well, especially with the company talking up in-space manufacturing.
The wonderful thing about the interplay between commercial and defense downmass applications is that commercial operations can verify concepts and hardware today, experimenting with new ideas and technology while Space Force and its users will ultimately buy in quantities that will lower the price for both. It’s a win-win for everyone, assuming there are no unique requirements in moving things from orbit to ground.
Certainly, many spaceports around the world would like the ability to receive cargo from orbit, such as Spaceport America in New Mexico. The only challenge in expanding the new sector is the need for the FAA to streamline and accelerate its reentry licensing process. Only SpaceX, Varda, and Inversion have secured reentry licenses, with the FAA taking 18 months to process Inversion’s license. Outpost’s large cargo container is likely to generate considerable discussion due to its size relative to other capsule solutions currently in progress.
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