Capsules full of drugs made in orbit keep falling out of the sky onto South Australian scrub. The company that catches them is Southern Launch.
Why space
US company Varda makes pharmaceuticals in microgravity, where crystals can grow in ways they cannot on Earth. Making them was never the hardest part. Getting them back was. Varda needed somewhere safe and approved to bring capsules down.
The landing site
Southern Launch runs two spaceports in South Australia: the Koonibba Test Range near Ceduna and the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex near Port Lincoln. It has signed Varda up for 20 more re-entries at Koonibba through to 2028, with Varda aiming for near-monthly returns. Koonibba is operated in partnership with the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation.
The track record
In February 2025 Koonibba hosted the world’s first commercial spacecraft landing at a commercial spaceport. Three more re-entries have followed, including Varda’s W-6 capsule in May 2026. Southern Launch also ran a commercial rocket launch back in 2020, and helped track NASA’s Orion spacecraft during Artemis II earlier this year.
The raise
A $25M Series A led by national security investor Brindabella, including $10M from the National Reconstruction Fund. Former Macquarie CEO Nicholas Moore and former CFO Alex Harvey invested too, alongside Coupland Asset Management. The money goes into headcount and growing its launch, re-entry and range services.
My read
The rarest thing in the space industry is not a rocket. It is somewhere safe to put one down, and South Australia has one.