Spaceflight historic previous is likely to be made on Monday (Jan. 9), if all goes based mostly on plan.
Virgin Orbit’s “Start Me Up” mission is scheduled to lift off at 5:16 p.m. EST (2216 GMT) on Monday from Spaceport Cornwall in England, agency representatives launched on Friday (Jan. 6). “Start Me Up” could be the first-ever orbital launch from the United Kingdom and the first industrial mission to take flight from Western Europe.
“This is a significant landmark for the nation, the U.K. Space Agency and for all those
who have worked so hard over many years to make our ambitions to create a
commercial space launch capability a reality,” Ian Annett, deputy CEO of the U.Okay. Space Agency, said in a statement (opens in new tab).
In footage: Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket for satellite missions
Virgin Orbit makes use of a service airplane often called Cosmic Girl, which takes off from a runway with a 70-foot-long (21 meters) rocket named LauncherOne tucked beneath one wing. Cosmic Girl drops LauncherOne at an altitude of about 35,000 toes (11,000 meters); the rocket then fires up its engines and makes its choice to orbit by the thin air.
Flexibility and responsiveness are baked into this air-launch approach, Virgin Orbit representatives say. Virgin Orbit’s sister agency, the suborbital tourism outfit Virgin Galactic, employs an air-launch system as correctly. (Both Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic are part of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.)
On “Start Me Up,” LauncherOne will carry a total of nine small satellites (opens in new tab) to orbit for seven completely totally different shoppers.
“The missions of these satellites span a wide range of activities aimed at improving life on planet Earth, including reducing the environmental impact of production; preventing illegal trafficking, smuggling and terrorism; and a host of national security functions,” Virgin Orbit wrote in a mission description (opens in new tab).
Virgin Orbit has 5 launches beneath its belt to date, all of which have lifted off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The first mission, a test flight that lifted off in May 2020, failed. But the most recent 4 have all been worthwhile, deploying a total of 33 satellites into orbit.
Virgin Orbit had initially targeted November 2022 for the launch of “Start Me Up,” which takes its title from the 1981 Rolling Stones hit. However, delays in securing the necessary regulatory approvals pushed points once more.
Those approvals in the mean time are in place, and Cosmic Girl and LauncherOne are ready for liftoff. That readiness was verified by means of an end-to-end launch rehearsal, which the mission workforce carried out on Thursday (Jan. 5), Virgin Orbit representatives said.
If “Start Me Up” can’t get off the underside on Monday, backup dates could be discovered from mid- to late January, agency representatives said.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a information regarding the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
