By the time he reached high school, Delian Asparouhov realised he would never top his dad’s academic achievements. In 1990, Tihomir Asparouhov, a maths prodigy from Bulgaria, won a gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad in Beijing. “I was pretty damn good in maths, but not that good.”Asparouhov Jr, who grew up in America after his parents emigrated, decided to do something a tad less ambitious: make human hearts in outer space. SponsoredJust before Christmas, the 27-year-old raised $9 million (£6.4 million) from outspoken venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund to launch Varda Space Industries, a Los Angeles start-up bent on becoming the first contract manufacturer “residing in orbit”. Its focus will be on materials whose delicate structures are difficult or impossible to

Source: The Times February 28, 2021 00:00 UTC