Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc has landed its Cosmic Girl rocket-launch vehicle at Spaceport Cornwall to prepare for the first orbital space launch from UK soil next month, which also pushes the boundaries of the circular economy.
The launch, named ‘Start Me Up’ after the Rolling Stones song, is in partnership with the UK Space Agency, and will be the fifth commercial launch for Virgin Orbit since it began operations in 2021.
Originally planned for this summer but now pencilled in for November, the launch from England's southwestern tip will also be the first commercial launch from Western Europe and the launch for Virgin Orbit outside of the US.
A process of satellite integration is due to be complete on-site in Cornwall by Friday, Virgin Orbit said, with ground support equipment (GSE) and the rocket departing this week from California.
The company has been working closely with the UK Civil Aviation Authority, Royal Air Force and Spaceport Cornwall as part of preparations for liftoff.
At launch, Cosmic Girl, which is a converted Boeing 747-400 aircraft, will take off like an ordinary jumbo jet from the runway with the LauncherOne rocket under its wing, then once at the required cruising height, the rocket will unclip and fire its engines to power up into space, with a payload of multiple small satellites to be carried into low-Earth orbit (LEO), while the plane returns to land.
???? Start it up ???? This week, #LauncherOne will depart sunny California for our launch later this year @SpaceCornwall. Officially titled “Start Me Up,” after the @RollingStones 1981 hit released on Virgin Records, the mission is “starting up” the UK’s orbital launch capabilities. pic.twitter.com/B9OLeyV012
— Virgin Orbit (@VirginOrbit) October 11, 2022
Satellites from seven UK and international customers will be carried on board, including the first satellite made by Wales-based start-up Space Forge, which specialises in in-orbit manufacturing that it says will reduce energy usage by 60%, while claiming its returnable-and-reusable satellite platform also reduces waste and CO2 emissions.
There will also be an earth observation satellite made by AAC Clyde Space and supplied through a joint project with Oxfordshire-based Horizon Technologies and The Satellite Applications Catapult accelerator programme; the DOVER Pathfinder satellite, made by Oxfordshire-based Open Cosmos for Belgium’s RHEA to support resilient global navigation satellite systems; and the third STORK smallsat from Poland’s SatRev.
A group of Prometheus-2 satellites will support the Ministry of Defence's science and technology activities, while the CIRCA cubesats are part of a joint mission between the UK’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory and the US Naval Research Laboratory.
It will also be a historic day for the Kingdom of Oman, with the Aman cubesat its first ever satellite, to be used for environmental surveillance.
Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the UK Space Agency, said it will be an "iconic moment in the history of UK space endeavours"
He added: "Developing new launch capabilities will build on the strengths of our space sector and attract companies from around the world to benefit from these commercial opportunities. This will catalyse investment, bring new jobs to communities and organisations right across the UK, as well as inspiring the next generation of space scientists and engineers."
The UK Space Agency has said the launch will advertise the UK's capability to provide small satellite launch services just as demand from satellite and other space-tech companies rockets and supply is squeezed as many companies shun Russian providers due to the war in Ukraine.
WOW.@VirginOrbit @spacegovuk @CornwallCouncil @Newquay_Airport #LaunchUK #CountdownToCornwall pic.twitter.com/tlGxWqazwS
— Spaceport Cornwall (@SpaceCornwall) October 11, 2022
Spaceport Cornwall is integrated with the existing activities at Cornwall Airport, near Newquay, using funds from Cornwall Council (£10mln), the UK Space Agency (£7.35mln) and Virgin Orbit (£2.5mln).
Melissa Thorpe, head of the spaceport, said: “A converted 747 using a converted airport to get to space is a perfect example of what we are working to achieve at Spaceport Cornwall. By making use of existing assets we want to set the bar for responsible launch – starting up launch in the UK with ‘Space For Good’ at its core.”
Virgin Orbit floated on New York's Nasdaq via a merger with a SPAC shell company last December, raising US$228mln of gross proceeds.
The company, said broker Canaccord earlier this year, has a substantial, rapidly growing opportunity based on a forecast of more than 4,900 smallsats with a mass below 600 kg (which can be carried by LauncherOne as a payload) traveling into orbit in the year 2030.
The analysts said: "We believe that the Pentagon’s arms race with Russia and China to field hypersonic weapons provides LauncherOne with an exceptional market opportunity."
LauncherOne has demonstrated speeds approaching Mach 23 (~17,500 mph) during flight, and at a price of US$12mln per rocket, it is "a particularly affordable hypersonic vehicle" relative to systems built by big defence companies, the analysts pointed out.