5 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
SpaceX plans Starship program for in-orbit drug research
SpaceX is working on a program to use its mammoth Starship rocket to develop commercial products in space, potentially opening up a new business line for the world's most valuable private startup, according to people familiar with the matter.
Under the plan, internally called Starfall, SpaceX's Starship rocket would bring products like pharmaceutical components to space in small, uncrewed capsules, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.
Starship would then deploy the capsules, which would spend time in orbit before reentering the atmosphere, where they could be recovered back on Earth, the person added.
The Starfall program would allow companies to take advantage of the unique conditions of space, specifically micro-gravity and higher levels of radiation, which can provide a new environment for manufacturing pharmaceutical drugs, semiconductors, food, and even beauty products.
A representative for SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The initiative could make SpaceX, which has dramatically lowered the cost of launching to orbit, a key leader in the sector of space-based research and development for commercial goods.
The SpaceX program is still in the early stages of development and the plans could change. The effort is highly reliant on the operational ability of Starship, which has been plagued by a string of explosive failures over its last several test flights.
SpaceX plans to make the program operational roughly by the end of the decade, one of the people said. The company is in talks with potential customers for the service, the people said.
A team to work on the initiative was created recently under the leadership of Chris Trautner, senior director of vehicle engineering for the Falcon family of rockets, one of the people said.
According to an analysis conducted by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm, certain industries could generate billions of dollars in additional revenue by expanding into space.
California-based startup Varda Space Industries, which is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, has a similar business model of processing materials in space and has so far launched three capsules on board a SpaceX rocket and subsequently recovered them.
Starfall, the people said, also has defense applications, and SpaceX is working in conjunction with the military on the program, the outlines of which were reported by the Wall Street Journal in May.
It wasn't immediately clear how Starfall fits into an existing SpaceX contract with the US Department of Defense to develop Starship for sending huge quantities of military cargo and humanitarian aid between points on Earth.
Pashankar, Ludlow and Porter write for Bloomberg.
