Rocket Lab’s first Photon spacecraft in orbit in September 2020. Photo: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab has signed a deal with in-space manufacturing company Varda Space Industries to produce three Photon spacecraft that will integrate with the company’s “space factories.”  

Varda Space is working to commercialize space manufacturing to build fiber optic cables, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors, which the company says have higher performance when produced in zero-gravity. Varda Space closed a $42 million Series A funding round in July. 

In the mission, Rocket Lab’s Photon will support Varda’s 120 kg manufacturing and re-entry modules with power, data, and attitude control. When the mission is complete, Photon will perform multiple burns to place Varda’s re-entry capsule on a return trajectory to Earth. The first Varda Photon is planned for delivery in the first quarter of 2023, with the second to follow up later in the year and a third in 2024. The contract includes an option for Varda to procure a fourth Photon. Each mission has a three-month duration from launch to landing.

“The Varda team is undertaking ground-breaking work that really opens up new possibilities and markets for in-space manufacturing and we couldn’t be more excited to make their mission possible with Photon,” said Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Peter Beck.