Three washing machine-sized capsules are orbiting about 300 miles above Earth, and inside one of them tiny crystals of a potential cancer drug are being grown in weightlessness, according to The Guardian. The other two capsules are testing heat protection materials and navigation systems for re-entry through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
The spacecraft belong to California-based Varda Space Industries, which launched two of the capsules on the same rocket on 1 October and the third on 20 October. The company said it now has a record three spacecraft in orbit at the same time as it works toward operating a fleet of orbiting pharmaceutical factories.
Varda chief executive Will Bruey said the company was the first in human history to launch multiple commercial re-entry vehicles simultaneously. He said that as launch frequency increases, the once "crazy future" of manufacturing products in space is becoming more and more certain.
According to the report, microgravity is a major reason for making some materials in space. On Earth, gravity causes particles in liquids to settle and density differences create currents, both of which can interfere with crystal growth. The size, shape and arrangement of drug crystals can affect how easily medicines dissolve, how stable they are and how they are administered, and other materials such as semiconductors could also benefit.