Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:VORB) has a date pencilled in for next Monday for what could be the first orbital space launch from UK soil, from Spaceport Cornwall.
A maritime navigational warning was made for the Virgin Orbit LauncherOne launch named 'Start me Up' on 9 January between 10.16pm and just past midnight.
A backup date of January 18 was also given.
A Virgin Orbit spokesperson told Space News that this navigational warning was indeed for the Start Me Up mission, although the company was not yet ready yet to announce an official launch date.
“All launch partners are currently working towards launch fairly soon,” the spokesperson said.
A Navigational Warning has appeared for the @VirginOrbit LauncherOne launch "Start me Up", for 9 Jan 22:16 - 00:16 UTC. Backup date Jan 18.
Area is consistent with a launch into a ~555 km altitude, 97.6 deg inclined Sun-Synchronous orbit. pic.twitter.com/klts024xTN
— Dr Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langbroek) January 4, 2023
Just after 4pm, the UK Civil Aviation Authority confirmed in a tweet that all satellites for the first orbital space launch from the UK have now been issued licences.
The launch from south-west England had been planned for the late summer, then moved into November and then December, but just before Christmas the company pushed the launch date into the new year, saying additional technical work was needed and that licences had still not been obtained for the launch itself and for the payload of satellites the rocket will carry into space.
On 21 December the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that it had granted launch and range licences to the company to undertake launch activities from the UK, with the Start Me Up mission due to carry seven payloads into space for government and private customers including the UK Ministry of Defence, the US Naval Research Laboratory and Welsh startup Space Forge.
Virgin Orbit specialises in 'horizontal' launches where its LauncherOne rocket is carried into the sky under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 jet named Cosmic Girl, before the rocket unclips and takes off horizontally to carry its payloads into their eventual orbit positions.
The Nasdaq-listed company was recently forced to abandon an attempt to raise new funds due to the unfriendly stock market conditions, though it was given a US$25mln cash top-up by founder Sir Richard Branson in November, via a convertible loan note, and another US$20mln last month, via another loan note.