Three Capsules Now Orbit Earth Growing Cancer Drug Crystals in Space

A California company has three small spacecraft circling Earth at the same time for the first time, and one of them is growing crystals of a potential cancer drug in weightlessness. The Guardian reported that Varda Space Industries launched two of the washing machine-sized capsules on Oct. 1 and a third on Oct. 20, calling it a step toward factories that make medicines in orbit.

The idea is still at an early, experimental stage. But if it works, drugmakers could gain new ways to shape their products, and some medicines that now need intravenous infusions might be reformulated as more convenient injections, according to the Guardian.

What the three capsules are doing about 300 miles up

The spacecraft orbit roughly 300 miles above Earth, the Guardian said. One carries the cancer drug crystals. The other two are testing heat-protection materials and navigation systems for the return trip, when the capsules plunge back through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

Varda's spacecraft ride into orbit on SpaceX rockets and carry miniature laboratories that run without astronauts. When the work is done, a capsule separates, falls through the atmosphere and lands by parachute in an uninhabited region. Will Bruey, Varda's chief executive, said the company is the first to launch multiple commercial re-entry vehicles at once. He said more frequent launches make the "crazy future" of space manufacturing more certain.

Why weightlessness helps crystals grow

On Earth, gravity makes particles in a liquid settle, and differences in density create currents. Both can disrupt crystal growth. Dr. Meganne Christian, a mission manager for in-space manufacturing at the UK-based Satellite Applications Catapult, said removing those effects lets crystals form in a more ordered way.

That matters for medicine because a drug crystal's size, shape and arrangement can change how easily it dissolves, how stable it is and how it can be given to patients. Semiconductors, used in devices from smartphones to electric vehicles, might also come out purer and with fewer defects when made in microgravity and without air, the Guardian reported.

Why it matters for patients and the drug industry

For patients, any effect is a long way off. The cancer drug in Varda's capsule is described only as a potential treatment, and the Guardian's account did not report results from the experiment. The nearest-term possibility it describes is a change in how existing kinds of drugs are formulated, not a new cure.

For drug developers, the draw is speed. Michael Reilly, Varda's chief strategy officer, said waiting a year, let alone 10 years, between experiments does not fit modern drug development. The International Space Station has hosted manufacturing research for decades, but Dr. Ryan Reeves of the ISS National Laboratory said it was not designed for manufacturing. He described it as mainly a "test kitchen" for ideas. The station is scheduled to retire around 2030.

Christian also cautioned that production in orbit will not be commercially viable for every application. Companies, she said, must find high-value uses where the benefits justify the expense.

Other companies are chasing the same market

Several firms are building commercial space stations to replace the ISS, and others are designing laboratories to fly on them. The UK-based BioOrbit recently sent a microwave-sized laboratory to the ISS as a step toward self-injected cancer drugs.

Cardiff-based Space Forge is taking a hybrid approach with semiconductors. Crystals grown in orbit would come back to Earth and serve as templates for growing larger quantities, much like a sourdough starter. Its first spacecraft, ForgeStar-1, recently demonstrated some of the needed processes but has not yet produced a finished material and returned it. Co-founder and chief technology officer Andrew Bacon said the company hopes to show the full process before 2030. He said it feels like "the start of a new Industrial Revolution," noting that when the company began in 2018 almost nobody was discussing the field.

What comes next

Varda has already returned several capsules from orbit. It plans seven more missions in 2027 and 10 in 2028. The Guardian said falling launch costs and more frequent commercial rocket flights have fed the optimism, though the central test remains whether orbital production can justify its cost.

Around Prague, based on reporting by The Guardian