Seven new satellites have been orbiting above our heads since January 13 thanks to Virgin Orbit. The LauncherOne rocket was lifted 10 kilometers above sea level by Cosmic Girl, a refitted Boeing 747, before igniting its engines to head into space for its third mission.
A nice candle for the IPO
In May 2021, during its inaugural launch, LauncherOne had not reached its goal, the stars. It is now a distant memory for the British company. It sent 19 satellites in all, small or medium, with its launcher.
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The latest are research satellites, satellites for the UK Ministry of Defense and three devices from SatRevolution and Spire. “Cosmic Girl” departed from the Mojave Air and Space Port in the Californian desert, where Virgin Orbit has a test facility.
And there we have it, folks! We’ve just heard from Mission Control that NewtonThree successfully reignited and deployed all customer spacecraft into their target orbit. Another fantastic day for the Virgin Orbit team, and a big step forward for our customers.
—Virgin Orbit (@VirginOrbit) January 13, 2022
A great way to celebrate the stock market listing of Virgin Galactic’s sister company on January 7. Announced in August, the transaction ended up on the New York Stock Exchange via special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). For the occasion a model of LauncherOne was exhibited in Times Square, reports The Verge.
Virgin Orbit, true to its British roots
Despite the American dream, Virgin Orbit has not forgotten its home kingdom. An RAF pilot, the British Air Force, was flying the Cosmic Girl on January 13. The company’s CEO, Dan Hart has expressed the wish to operate two launches directly from the United Kingdom as early as June or July 2022.
According to BBC, the Civil Aviation Authority will not give Virgin Orbit any security privileges. Tim Johnson, head of the authority, declined to say whether a license could be granted for this new year.
In the meantime, Virgin Orbit should multiply launches. Currently the company respects a period of six months between each operation. This delay is destined to be reduced to reach the objective of six launches in 2022. It will take at least that to titillate the champion of new space, Space X. On January 13, Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 sent 105 small satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The competition for the stars has already begun.