The commercial race into space is achieved a little more. Virgin Orbit by Richard Branson, the sister company of Virgin Galactic, has successfully launched a rocket into orbit for the first time. He also managed to successfully deliver payloads to a client, NASA, leaving several nanosatellites sponsored by the agency.
Sunday, Virgin Orbit made his second test flight of its LauncherOne rocket, which is launched into space using an unconventional launch system. Joinstead of getting up from a launch pad on the ground, the rocket is carried underneath the wing of a custom Boeing 747, called “Cosmic Girl” and released in a predetermined place. Once released, the rocket ignites and can orbit. This is exactly what happened on Sunday.
As he explains the Virgin, when launching the rocket from an airplane in the air, the launching system of Virgin Orbit does not need a rocket so great nor so much amount of fuel. This is good from a financial perspective as it helps keep costs downwn. In addition, the outlet notes that the company maintains that your system is potentially more flexible than others, as in theory it could launch satellites from anywhere a 737 could take off and land.
“Virgin Orbit has achieved something that many thought impossible,” Branson said in a statement Sunday. “It was so inspiring to see our specially adapted Virgin Atlantic 747, Cosmic Girl, send the LauncherOne rocket into orbit. This magnificent flight is the culmination of many years of work and will also trigger a whole new generation of innovators on the road to orbit.
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The successful launch meant a redemption for Virgin Orbit, which failed to reach orbit in its first moment. flight test in May last year. The company he said later a problem with a propellant line, which broke seconds after that of the rocket engine running, was behind the failure.
Unlike Virgin Galactic, who has her eyes set in space tourism, Virgin Orbit is about launching small satellites.
LauncherOne carried 10 nanosatellites, called CubeSats, which are part of NASA’s educational launch initiative for nanosatellites. The program is designed to attract and retain STEM students, for NASA, and students participate in all aspects of the mission, from development and assembly to testing and launch.
They are called nanosatellites for a reason. CubeSats are designed to be 10x10x10 cm or approximately four inches in cubes., explains the agency. Although they can be made up of individual units, which must weigh less than 1.33 kilograms, they can also be combined to form two, three or sis units. The CubeSats carried by LauncherOne were created by eight American universities and NASA itself. The satellites will work for research topics such as space-time, space radiation, and space debris, among others.
Virgin Orbit stated that it already had several customers reserved for subsequent launches, including the United States Space Force, the United Kingdom‘s Royal Force, Italian co of private spacempany SITAEL and the Danish satellite manufacturer GomSpace, among others.