华盛顿，9月30日：据路透社报道，专注于太空制造的公司Varda Space在D轮融资中筹集了2.5亿美元，其估值达到了16亿美元。该公司正在加大力度，开展在微重力环境下生产药品的相关任务。
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 : In-space manufacturing startup Varda Space has raised $250 million in a Series D round at a $1.6 billion valuation, the company told Reuters, as it ramps up missions to produce pharmaceuticals in microgravity.
总部位于埃尔塞贡多的Varda Space是美国为数不多的几家致力于开发无人驾驶太空舱的公司之一。这些太空舱可以充当轨道实验室或制造平台，用于生产那些在太空中生产效率或纯度更高的产品。
El Segundo-based Varda is one of a handful of US companies building a fleet of uncrewed space capsules that can function as orbital laboratories or manufacturing platforms for products whose development in space yields better efficiencies or purities than in the gravity of Earth.
这轮2.5亿美元的融资由Lux Capital和Natural Capital领投，使得Varda Space自2021年成立以来（该公司由前SpaceX工程师Will Bruey和Founders Fund合伙人Delian Asparouhov共同创立）累计筹集的资金总额达到了5.98亿美元。
The $250 million round closed this month, led by Lux Capital and Natural Capital, putting Varda's total amount raised at $598 million since its founding in 2021 by CEO and former SpaceX engineer Will Bruey and Founders Fund partner Delian Asparouhov.
自2023年以来，Varda Space已经使用其外形类似糖果的W系列太空舱执行了六次轨道任务，其中除第四次任务外，其余任务均成功从太空返回地球。该公司计划于2030年推出新一代太空舱。
The company since 2023 has deployed six missions to orbit with its gumdrop-shaped free-flying W-Series capsule, with all but its fourth mission successfully re-entering from space. It plans to debut a next-generation capsule in 2030.
Varda Space计划于周四首次同时使用SpaceX的Falcon 9火箭将两颗太空舱送入太空，这两颗太空舱将搭载为五角大楼和商业客户设计的高超音速研究载荷。
Varda is planning to launch two capsules to space at once for the first time on Thursday, using a rideshare mission on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The two capsules are carrying hypersonic research payloads for the Pentagon and commercial customers.
据路透社报道，SpaceX正在逐步淘汰Falcon火箭并减少其共享发射服务（即“ rideshare missions ”）的规模，这一举措令整个航天产业感到担忧。不过Varda Space并未受到太大影响——Bruey表示，该公司已与多家供应商签订了合同，确保在2027年至2029年间有28次发射任务。
SpaceX is phasing out its Falcon rocket and winding down rideshare missions, alarming much of the spacecraft industry, Reuters has reported. But Varda is largely insulated from the launch squeeze – it has 28 launches with different providers booked through 2027 to 2029, Bruey said.
虽然太空舱的再入大气层技术引起了五角大楼（尤其是其“Golden Dome”导弹防御项目）的极大兴趣，但Varda Space的主要商业业务仍集中在制药领域。
While orbital re-entries have drawn keen interest from the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile defense efforts, Varda has bet on the pharmaceutical industry for much of its commercial operations.
Bruey表示：“公司历史上最重要的里程碑将在本十年末实现：届时我们将把一种在微重力环境下研发出的药物制剂注入人体进行临床试验。”
"The biggest milestone in the company's history is going to be right around the turn of the decade when we take one of those microgravity-enabled formulations and we inject it into a human in the clinic," Bruey said.
Bruey表示，明年Varda约70%的有效载荷客户群为政府客户，其余为商业制药业务。他预计到2032年这一比例将逐渐逆转，凸显了公司对制药业务的押注。
About 70 per cent of Varda's payload customer base for next year is government-based and the rest is commercial pharmaceutical work, Bruey said. He expects that proportion to gradually flip by 2032, underscoring the company's bet on pharmaceuticals.
Asparouhov表示，公司8月任命生物技术高管、辉瑞资深人士Mikael Dolsten加入董事会，Varda约275名员工中约有18%具有制药背景。
The company in August appointed biotechnology executive and Pfizer veteran Mikael Dolsten to its board, and about 18 per cent of Varda's some 275 employees have pharmaceutical backgrounds, Asparouhov said.
该公司最新的舱体大小约相当于一台洗碗机，可在轨道上飞行数天，然后以约25倍音速重返大气层，重返过程本身为五角大楼提供了高超音速研究能力。
Roughly the size of a dishwasher, the company's latest pods can orbit Earth for days, then re-enter the atmosphere at some 25 times the speed of sound, with the re-entry itself offering hypersonic research capabilities for the Pentagon.
Varda面临SpaceX今年推出的Starfall计划以及初创公司Inversion Space的竞争，后者处于新兴的点对点运输市场，五角大楼视轨道空间为一条快速通道，可在约一小时内将军事货物运送到世界任何地方。
Varda faces competition from SpaceX's Starfall program that debuted this year, as well as startup Inversion Space in a nascent point-to-point transportation market, where the Pentagon sees orbital space as a swift highway for shuttling military cargo anywhere in the world in roughly an hour.
随着国际空间站预计于2030年退役，太空制造业务不断增长。这个运行了26年的轨道实验室由一组航天强国共同管理，一直是太空制造研究的关键平台，研究领域涵盖从人工器官培育到光纤电缆等。
The business of manufacturing things in space has grown as the 2030 retirement of the International Space Station approaches. That 26-year-old orbital laboratory, managed by a group of space powers, has been a key platform for space manufacturing research in areas ranging from artificial organ growth to fiber optic cables.