Varda Space lands second reentry capsule in Australia, plans 4 missions in 2025 including pharma and DOD payloads

live going in we he says he's waiting to be let in he's in the room let's get him on the show two Callins one day it's a big big push but we're ramping up we're GNA be doing 10 call-ins a day pretty soon as long as people want to come and chat um we gotta make this this easy for folks hey Delan how you doing can you hear us there he is yo what's up sorry no all good a while uh give me the update what what's the latest with varda um yeah you brought in a capsule from uh OS Mach 25 down onto the OS Australian desert floor um teams out there you know going to uh retrieve the capsule over the course of the next couple hours currently night time in Australia um yeah all things you know s of looking pretty good so we're two for two baby nice what was in the capsule um this time around it was a Air Force research laboratory spectrometer um they're basically uh staring out of the window of the re-entry capsule uh to uh basically characterize the plume of the re-entry vehicle and compare that to some of the materials that are on board um I'll leave it to the viewer to speculate as to why the Air Force might want to do that um in relation to uh potentially trying to figure out what other vehicles are made of perhaps ones that they themselves did not make um and we'll we'll leave that you know exercise up for the viewer but uh we're super excited to you sort of help out with the maturation of that type of technology and what it means for you know our country's National Security that's awesome we got to call Jesse Michaels to get him to speculate um what uh exactly exactly what does the Cadence look like going forward are you just doing do you know when the next one is already are there going to be just dozens of these give me the the kind of next couple yeah next week um you know hopping right back up and getting back to it so uh you know quick turnaround time turning this from a uh you know oneoff R&D mission to uh this year we're planning to have four vehicles total uh three of those will be more DOD focused missions um it's not to say that there won't be some Farm on board but it just won't be like the primary you know sort of focus of the mission then one of our missions this year will be a primarily pharmaceutical you sort of focus Mission and uh you know we kind of expect that you know sort of blend on a go forward basis and uh yeah looking to basically just continue to increase the Cadence you know sort of year-over-year definitely some you know s of vehicle improvements that will happen you know from one mission to the next um and generally for the time being continue to you know sort of land in Australia um just given um the regulatory regime and The Emptiness out there making it a bit easier uh but at some point looking forward to uh returning back to the uh you United States once that becomes available are you expecting that to get easier in the US with the new Administration pry sure I think it's something that the you know new Administration is you know clearly um aligned with but it is just one of these you operational things that just take some time to flow through designating which of the military ranges is uh you know best as a landing range in the United States we're basically just taking the you know sort of same you know sort of legal and Regulatory framework that existed you know Cape Canaveral and Vandenburg both of which were government run ranges that now obviously prioritize commercial activity um there isn't the equivalent of that for re-entry um right now there is no sort of dedicated government run you know sort of re-entry um we're exploring a variety of other you options potentially you private you sort of range as well as we continue to narrow in um the you size of our Landing radius and so over time may not need to be reliant on a you know sort of government plot of land but instead perhaps there's some private uh plots of land that are large enough and so um excited to have a say again sorry to interrupt what is the ideal range size in your view uh this year how how how much smaller can it be over the long term uh and is that even the right question to ask um you I think that information is itar restricted um so you know what I can say is you know on the order of you know around 100 kilm Circle um or so um that's pretty you know should pretty big um to have that be fully empty and owned by one person um but that Circle will you know sort of get smaller and you know maybe sometimes we won't open the parachute and it'll be a very small circle great uh are you uh tuning into the next Starship launch what are you hoping for there what are you watching for that yeah I mean look you know we built this business predicated on Falcon 9 you know sort of reusability and the Cadence of that and it's been really exciting to see that mature over the course of the company's life right you know sort of Falcon 9's at this point are launching every 24 hours we're super enthused by you know sort of spacex's progress and the you know sort of potential of Starship um you know there's definitely you know obviously you know sort of lotss of Kinks that need to be you know sort of worked out but you know not so dissimilar to you know sort of Falcon 9 it definitely took it a decade from you know sort of the first landing to you know sort of becoming you know sort of true Workhorse that was you know sort of launching every day um both SpaceX is much larger but also so Starship in terms of complexity and so you know I hope that they you know sort of get you know sort of through that you know sort of faster than a decade um but also they've got a lot of programs and payloads that are more important than us you know they've got everything from the you sort of lunar activities that they they've got um The Martian activities um they've got Starling satellites to launch and so um you know at least you sort of my internal underwriting is like I'm not quite sure that you know s Starship is going to be launching people like vaa you know before the end of the decade um so it's like super exciting but like I also have to run a business you know month by month year by year um and so I can't focus on things that you know sort of relevant in 2030 I have to focus on the things that are taking me up to you know sort of space today Falcon M's a pretty damn good ride to orbit every 24 hours and uh you know reusable at least for the first stage pretty you know a pretty good offering and uh you know perhaps there are other people that are starting to you know sort of um you know try to you know elbow into that you know sort of world you know God bless Papa Bezos and uh you know hope it works for um and you know we're we're happy to get up to space you know uh which way or how you know uh you know rocket rail gun space plane you know just whatever works I don't care I just need my my sweet sweet microgravity amazing uh how big is the company what what roles are you hiring for what's kind of like the biggest challenge over the next couple years yeah we're about 115 people basically uh entirely in the Los Angeles um you know area you know over the course of the next year I think there's you know sort of two you know sort of um you know sort core coreas one you know sort of pharmaceutical you know sort of teams definitely you know growing um we're we s of starting to you know work on a broader you s set of assets we're you know about to open up a new you know sort of lab space for the team and so anybody with a you know sort of uh yeah formulation Crystal engineering you know sort of background process engineering you know the types of things that we do up there uh we'd be super thrilled to have and then yeah generally on the Aerospace side of things going from a you know sort of uh you know one R&D mission to now four flights next year even more hopefully you know sort of year after um just means obviously we need you know a lot more Talent on that side of the house and that's everything from you know you know firmware software Engineers flight software to you know avionics structures thermal um you know mechanisms um and then we're starting to think about you know sort of more manufacturing engineering since um you know we're starting to you know see we're early in that transition from um you know sort of vehicles manually assembled by high-end Engineers to starting to introduce you know sort of more technicians into the mix and you know sort of more automation um not to say that we're you know going to be looking like a Tesla style you know sort of assembly line anytime soon but you know um you know day need to you start to you look more like that over time and so some amount of manufacturing engineering as well are there any proposals uh that you're excited about in the new Administration around like the space economy any like oh there's if there's one law you could change what would it be that type of question well um you know sort of the new Administration um hasn't talked a lot about the space economy um but it has talked a lot about you know sort of space being a potential um Zone uh for deterrence uh for our against our adversaries um and so that's definitely something that we think um you know has a lot of potential uh we think we can field something pretty near term there um and as you start to think about you know sort of space Bas activities that you know perhaps want to you sort of go down to the ground all I'll say is sort of the you know company that just bombarded Australia from space um is probably you know sort of well suited to help out with that you know this time around we pulled the parachute but uh you know so next time if you want us to not do that we're happy to leave the parach own uh space arms dealer um taking a quick I've always been consistent I'm a space drugs and arms dealer no no no surprises here you know yeah no it's amazing you were putting the secret master plan in your bio years ago so it's amazing to to see it play out uh you recently uh ratio chth after he tried to um you know make a make reply to one of your posts you said you had made uh you know more Investments I think in the in in the last few months than you had and potentially the last couple years uh where have you been investing you know you don't have to speak to specific companies because I'm sure a lot of those rounds haven't been announced but where are you investing uh obviously just chasing generational Founders but what's most exciting to you in the early stage market today just it's all AI slop I just want everybody to have their own anime girlfriend and she just you know s jerks you off every night and that's how we you know sort of maintain world peace and as much possible that's bread and circuses right you know really changes the world and you know is really for the best uh no I mean it's kind of what you'd probably you should have expect I just like I love stuff that is making stuff in the real world and it turns out with this admin they want us to do more of that in the United States and I want to fund people that want to do that and I want to do it with people that are like serious and it's their life's work and they're not just doing it because like you know dynamism is the New Meme and they want to be a part of the meme you know I want to you know sort of fund the people where you know their family's been a manufacturing family for three generations and they think they can do it better because they're going to integrate some robots some AI Etc but you know still have that you know sort of uh you know lifelong tie to that you know sort particular industry and so um I've been really you know excited over the past couple months where it just feels like you know a lot more people are thinking about that being the type of company that they can build and I think you're really just starting to see you know sort of the clear um you know the difficulty in you know s of being somebody that screaming you know Adams not bits um you know in you 2019 was my you know sort of former you know colleague Everett you know s rip um you know would always you know sort of critique me for um you know sort of saying that uh you know danan just likes investing in low margin um you know capex intensive businesses and you know sort of 5 years later you know my sort of you know spin back to ever it would be you know you know which one do we think is going to be more valuable than like you know Tik Tok captioning app um or you know sort of the company that's you know sort of cutting you know sort of metal um for all the you know sort of nation's you know sort of uh you know future War fighting capabilities um I like the cutting metal one but you know every you're welcome to you know sort of go uh you know invest in your uh you know sort of captions you s products I'm sure would be great brother shots fired shots fired love it little friendly competition you guys aade yeah that's great uh well it's 1:30 we'll we'll let you get out of here this is fantastic thanks so much for stopping byat boys bye thanks for coming on talk soon this is great never a dull moment with Delan we got we got two of the top the top poster in Ecom and the top poster in hardtech the same day uh it's fantastic putting on a show uh yeah for for uh those those listening you know our our strategy here is to develop regulars on the show people that call in you know we want to have if there's big