W-Series Spacecraft

Overview

Free-flying orbital production satellite with an integrated reentry capsule. It processes materials in microgravity independently of any space station, then returns the finished product to Earth under parachute.

Six missions launched since 2023 and five capsules recovered. Since W-4 in June 2025 the spacecraft bus has been designed and built entirely in-house at El Segundo rather than bought in, and W-5's January 2026 return was the first complete mission lifecycle flown on Varda hardware end to end.

Key Specs