Making Drugs in Space, and Finally Cleaning Up After Ourselves

Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week’s newsletter is 1,032 words, a 7-minute read.

Table of Contents

• 1 Big Thing: Private Moon Lander is a “Go” for Lan …

• 2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

• 3. Space Junk Cleanup Craft Inbound

• 4. A First for Making Drugs in Space

• 5. Check Out this Book About, Well, Everything

1 Big Thing: Private Moon Lander is a “Go” for Landing

Last Week, I wrote about Intuitive Machines’ groundbreaking moon mission which is currently underway.

The Company’s Nova-C Moon Lander is on its way to the moon, after being launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 last Thursday (Feb. 15).

The Launch: After a brief delay, everything went well with the launch. SpaceX’s consistency with commercial launches continues to amaze me.

Engine Testing: On February 16th, the Nova-C lander successfully fired its engines in a critical test for the spacecraft hurdling toward the moon. The test was delayed for a few hours because it took longer than expected to chill the liquid oxygen feed line.

A Special Fuel: Intuitive Machines’ lander uses liquid methane, which has begun gaining popularity with space companies lately - the most famous example being SpaceX’s Starship behemoth. Liquid methane is especially promising for future missions because it’s relatively easy to produce, more efficient than traditional fuels like RP-1 (basically kerosene), and easier to handle than ultra-cold cryogenic fuels like liquid hydrogen.

Looking Ahead: The Nova-C lander is slated to go into orbit around the moon on Wednesday (Feb. 21), and to attempt a landing some time on Thursday (Feb. 22). If it lands successfully, it’ll be the first private craft to successfully land on the moon - a massive milestone for space exploration and humanity as a whole.

Side Note: The Nova-C has successfully beamed its first images back to Earth. Here’s one below:

2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

1. Japan’s SLIM lander - which landed upside down on the moon last month - has analyzed 10 lunar rocks, giving scientists clues about the moon’s origin. (NPR)

2. A retired NASA satellite found water on the surface of two asteroids. (CBS)

3. The Space Force began the process of looking for launch sites in Cape Canaveral for SpaceX’s Starship. If you live in Florida, this one’s really exciting. (SpaceNews)

3. Space Junk Cleanup Craft Inbound

Japanese Company Astroscale successfully launched a satellite, called the ADRAS-J, on a Rocket Lab rocket in New Zealand on Sunday (Feb. 18).

A Noble Cause: Astroscale’s satellite will inspect the upper stage of a 15-year-old rocket as a test run for cleaning up space junk. This is the first mission to approach and rendezvous with an actual piece of space junk.

Planned Fiery Death: Astroscale has plans for a second mission in the future to attempt to remove the old rocket from orbit. If successful, the mission would slow the debris down enough for it to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up.

Why it Matters: I wrote last week about how the area of space around Earth is littered with junk. This junk poses a serious threat to future space missions, and we’ll need to figure out how to clean it up somehow.

Future Moneymaker?: Any company that figures out how to economically remove space debris from Earth orbit without creating too much more of it will reap some serious rewards from governments and private companies around the world. Astroscale is definitely one to keep an eye on in the future.

4. A First for Making Drugs in Space

Varda Space Industries is about to make a big, sandy splash in the space world.

Coming Back to Earth: On Wednesday (Feb. 21), Varda’s W-1 Capsule is set to return to Earth, landing at a U.S. military site near Salt Lake City in Utah.

What’s All the Fuss?: Varda designs spacecraft for manufacturing pharmaceutical drugs in space. The W-1 which is returning to Earth on Wednesday has been busy growing crystals of Ritonavir, which is used to treat HIV and hepatitis C.

Why Make Drugs in Space?: Well, for a few reasons. The microgravity of space offers benefits for growing crystalline structures - important for making drugs. There are also no convection or sedimentation forces in space, so materials and heat can be distributed more evenly.

An Important First Step: Eventually, we’ll be manufacturing a lot more than just pharmaceuticals in space. Heavy machinery works a lot better when it’s not being pulled straight down by Earth’s gravity* and certain materials, like crystal lattices, lend themselves to being manufactured in this environment.

*side note: Technically, everything orbiting Earth is being pulled straight down by Earth’s gravity, but when it’s moving sideways really really fast, it’s as if it’s floating.

5. Check Out this Book About, Well, Everything

I finally got around to reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, and I can’t recommend it enough - even if you don’t want to read about space.

Bill Bryson tells the story of the universe from the Big Bang to the dawn of human civilization in such a fun, light way that you won’t realize how much you’ve learned until it’s over. Seriously, it balances being fun with being informative in a way that I haven’t come across in many other books, regardless of genre.

It has 4.3/5 stars on GoodReads (a very high rating for GoodReads) and it’s on sale for $13.79 right now. Check it out here:

Don’t Forget: If you refer 5 friends to the newsletter, I’ll send you a free copy of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s A Brief Welcome to the Universe. Use the link below to share and get credit for your referrals!

Thanks as always,

-Michael