Drugs in space: the frontier of AI

Welcome to AI Collision 💥,

In today’s collision between AI and our world:

Space drugs
Building the future in space, with AI
AI 2.0?

If that’s enough to get the robots launching, read on…

AI Collision 💥

I played golf with a mate recently, and he began to tell me about this company making drugs in space.

He had me at “drugs” but when he said “space” too…

Just kidding.

But seriously, he told me the name of the company, said it was right up my alley (he was right) and I got digging.

What I found was a company operating in the vacuum of space, combining robotics, AI, and orbital physics into a futuristic cocktail of amazing.

And no, this isn’t Amazon’s latest rollout of Kuiper or Elon Musk’s ever expanding rollout of Starlink or Starshield or SpaceX (albeit those have a bit to do with all this.) This is a company called Varda Space, which is the exact kind of company that I love to uncover and discover and then deliver to readers like you.

Because most people, if I told them there was a factory up in low-Earth orbit, autonomously manufacturing pharmaceuticals and high-value materials, immune to gravity, untouched by Earth’s natural forces, they’d probably think I was making it up.

Also that its no Lockheed skunkworks project nothing to do with NASA, but a venture-backed startup led by Silicon Valley renegades with some AI-chops and SpaceX experience.

Its maybe one of the coolest things I’ve seen for a while, which is saying something. And while it’s private (for now) it’s exactly the kind of company I can see listing in the near future, or doing a reverse takeover through a SPAC, which means its definitely one to keep an eye on.

So, who and what is Varda Space?

Varda was founded in 2020 by Will Bruey, an ex-SpaceX engineer, and Delian Asparouhov, a principal at Founders Fund, who also happens to be one of the most outspoken techno-optimists in VC. As his LinkedIn bio says, he’s the, “world’s first space drugs and arms dealer.”

The idea behind Varda is that gravity limits what we can make on Earth. So let’s make it off-Earth.

And they’ve backed that pitch with some serious capital. Founders Fund led their early rounds. Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and General Catalyst joined in. Their first satellite launched in 2023 and by 2024, Varda became the first private company to successfully manufacture drugs in space and bring them back to Earth.

From moonshot to near-the-moon and back in a year is quite the impressive feat.

Varda builds autonomous, AI-controlled, reentry-capable space factories. Yep, that’s quite the tech-melting pot I know.

These are small capsules—roughly the size of a washing machine—that are launched into low-Earth orbit with a payload of raw materials. Once in orbit, AI-driven robotics take over in a microgravity environment that enables the production of materials impossible or impractical to manufacture on Earth.

Why? Because gravity screws with chemistry. In zero-g, you can avoid sedimentation, convection, and other Earth-bound natural phenomenon. That’s critical when you’re trying to create hyper-pure crystals, ultra-high-precision alloys, or specialised biological specimens. The outcome is things like cancer drugs, optical materials, advanced semiconductors worth more than their weight in gold.

The first focus in terms of pharmaceuticals was Ritonavir, an antiviral pharmaceutical used in HIV treatments. If space-manufactured versions prove purer or more effective (and early indications say they might) then the business case becomes a no-brainer.

Of course, you’re dealing in space, which is no easy feat. You can’t just toss a capsule into orbit and hope for the best. You also can’t regularly send humans up there to do it all.

Varda’s entire operation hinges on artificial intelligence and automating not only the manufacturing process itself but also in-flight diagnostics, thermal regulation, orbital mechanics, and reentry calculations.

These capsules fly themselves, monitor their internal environment in real time, adjust procedures autonomously, and then survive a controlled reentry through Earth’s atmosphere to land in the desert with their precious cargo.

I strongly suggest watching this video they made of the re-entry of their W2 capsule. It will give you some insight as to what they do.

This is AI not as a chat bot or a spreadsheet plug-in, but as a full-stack autonomous system, operating beyond human supervision, with real world changing outcomes, if they can make the whole venture a commercial success.

It’s AI innovation at its best. Applied, at the edge, invisible and hugely impactful. Varda is the definition of turning science-fiction into science-reality.

It is also further reinforcement for me that we’re on the brink of the next huge wave of AI investment, AI growth, and for investors, AI opportunity. Which is something I’ve been closely looking at and which long-standing AI investor and forecaster James Altucher says is AI 2.0 in the making.

Again it should be said that none of this is possible without companies like SpaceX that have made the cost to launch into low earth orbit more accessible and affordable.

We aren’t just entering a new age of AI, but we’re entering a new phase of space commercialisation, one where companies aren’t just launching satellites—they’re building things in space.

Varda sits right at that intersection of some of the most world-changing technologies which makes them exactly the kind of company you want invest it…except you can’t. Not yet.

Varda is still private. But keep your eyes open. With the IPO and SPAC markets rumbling back to life in 2025, this is exactly the kind of frontier-tech darling that institutional capital will flock to once it has a few more successful missions under its belt.

And when that day comes? It’ll be one of the purest plays on the convergence of AI, robotics, and space. A rare bet on real-world deep tech.

Missed Out on the AI boom? AI’s “Second Wave” Could Be 10X Bigger

Genius investor James Altucher just revealed a rare opportunity he calls the “Wealth Window” – triggered by a new wave of AI innovation he calls AI 2.0.

He believes it could unlock a $15.7 trillion boom… and early movers could change their fortunes using his three AI wealth-building strategies.

Capital at risk.

Boomers & Busters 💰

AI and AI-related stocks moving and shaking up the markets this week. (All performance data below over the rolling week).

man in black suit jacket and black pants figurine

Boom 📈

Allegro Microsystems (NASDSAQ:ALGM) up 14%
Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ:LRTN) up 12%
Micron (NASDAQ:MU) up 6%

Bust 📉

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) down 7%
Arm (NASDAQ:ARM) down 6%
Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) down 5%

From the hive mind 🧠

Remember that time Klarna decided to axe all it’s humans and go full-AI? Well, it wasn’t that long ago, and already they’re winding it back. Although I suspect a bigger part of why has more to do with their impending IPO rather than their desire to be all-AI.
Do you want to build your own Clude AI copy? Not sure where to start? How about just downloading the entire training prompt of Claude and just making your own copy? Well, good, now you can thanks to its entire training prompt (all 24,000 tokens of it) leaking on GitHub.
How to grift $1 billion: 1. run a fintech company into the ground, declare bankruptcy and leave a shortfall for customers in the millions of dolalrs. 2. squirrel away and pivot into robotics, raise $100 million and get a $1 billion valuation.

Artificial Polltelligence 🗳️

Just the one poll last week, due to the short week.

But it was an intersting one off the back of the idea of AI integrating into our payments and banking system.

I for one am a proponent of the banking system having far less control over our individual sovereignty. I think they already overreach, overregulate and are far too powerful blocking access and freedoms for far too many people.

Less is more in banking, and the world we live in seems to be more is less. Less freedom, less liberty, less control. So stuff them all I say. But maybe AI can help them let loose a little. They claim it’s all due to protecting consumers and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism. But is it…really?

Maybe AI does all that for them, and maybe AI even ends up creating its own banking system…or adopting the most liberating system out there…bitcoin.

Anyway, I shall stop the rant there and show you the poll results from last week when I asked if you’d be comfortable with AI in the banking system…

It’s quite the spread there. Even with a few votes for cash is king! The winner technically is the I don’t mind it but uncertain about what it can do. And I think that’s a fair reflection of where the world is at with AI, with banking, with a lot of things right now.

You can see there’s something good brewing but always on the edge of concentrated power collecting, corrupting and controlling it all. Decentralise the lot of it I say, let the market and the people be truly free!

A new poll with you Wednesday.

Weirdest AI image of the day

Charlie Brownson

ChatGPT’s random quote of the day

“AI doesn’t have to be evil to destroy humanity — if AI has a goal and humanity just happens to stand in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course.”
— Elon Musk

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to leave comments and questions below,