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Varda Launches W-5, the Company's Fifth Mission and Fourth Launch of 2025
Varda's W-5 mission launched on SpaceX's Transporter-15 carries a hypersonic test payload funded by AFRL's Prometheus program for advanced materials research.
- Transporter-15 lifted off at 1:44 p.m. Eastern carrying 140 small satellites, and Varda's W-5 spacecraft reached orbit after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
- AFRL's Prometheus partnership secured a multi-year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract that guarantees reentry flight access through at least 2028.
- The W-5 vehicle includes three components: a hypersonic reentry capsule, a satellite bus for power, navigation and propulsion, and an ablative C-PICA heatshield; Varda's capsule reenters at about 18,000 miles per hour, exceeding Mach 25, then descends under parachute for recovery.
- With W-5 now in orbit, Varda Space Industries is operating two W-Series vehicles in space for the first time, offering a low-cost way to increase hypersonic test cadence with repeatable data return.
- Varda Space Industries is pursuing space-based manufacturing to build space factories for pharmaceutical experiments, while details of the AFRL experiment aboard W-5 were not disclosed.
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Varda Space launches its fifth mission, extends run of AFRL test flights
W-5 is the newest spacecraft in the company’s “W-Series” of free-flying reentry vehicles designed to orbit Earth, conduct on-orbit processing and return space-made materials. The post Varda Space launches its fifth mission, extends run of AFRL test flights appeared first on SpaceNews.
·Mojave, United States
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Total News Sources14
Leaning Left2Leaning Right0Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution78% Center
Bias Distribution
- 78% of the sources are Center
78% Center
L 22%
C 78%
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