This Jan. 29, 2026, photo captures the streak the Varda Space Industries W-5 capsule made while returning to Earth. The capsule uses a protective heat shield Varda produced made of cutting-edge material it licensed from NASA. The material, known as C-PICA (Conformal Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator), provides a stronger, less expensive, and more efficient thermal protection […]
Posted on
February 4, 2026
Sign up for our newsletter:
Categories
4
2
1
131
3
22
4
1
1
28
34
1
19
1
1
4
1
15
5
14
5
8
2
27
2
15
5
1
193
145
1
15
22
97
2
2
15
1
94
79
40
10
3
87
2
1
1
24
10
1
52
143
51
14
17
17
6
1
40
12
41
2
28
10
2
10
1
202
5
10
324
11
6
1
1
1
1
3
274
2
316
3
1
6
61
1
3
1
6
2
4
3
1
11
1
1
1
1
13
1
2
5
3
18
5
2
3
17
9
150
1
4
36
5
586
1
28
9
1
4
3
2
1
347
1
319
6
1
287
39
1
1
6
4
1
2
42
1
1
222
125
30
23
1
14
2
25
32
1
99
183
3
6
1
10
10
2
132
8
2
29
1
49
129
10
2
1
1
4