Virgin Orbit has aimed its third space flight attempt for Sunday.
The launch window from the air and space port of Mojave, California, is scheduled for Jan. 17, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., local time, according to a Virgin One tweet, with backup slots on the 24th. and January 31st.
This will be Virgin Orbit’s third trip to the launch pad: the previous ones were aborted in May 2020 due to engine problems and in December due to an increase in coronavirus cases.
If all goes well, the rocket will fall free from the Cosmic Girl carrier at about 35,000 feet and float in orbit.
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Virgin One’s LauncherOne is scheduled to leave Mojave Air and Space Port, California, on January 17 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., local time
‘Our launch readiness review [LRR] it is complete, our hardware looks fantastic and our customers are ready, ”the company explains he tweeted.
“We are following the latest actions identified in our LRR. Our launch is now NET – oriented [no earlier than] Sunday, January 17, with additional windows in January if needed. ‘
If all goes according to plan on Sunday morning, Cosmic Girl will be out with LauncherOne tucked under one of her wings.
The rocket, which is designed to deliver small satellites into space, will fall free at approximately 35,000 feet and float in orbit.
If all goes well, LauncherOne will release its carrier aircraft, Cosmic Girl, at 35,000 feet and float in orbit.
Ten NASA CubeSats and several American universities will be aboard LauncherOne, which can supply more than 1,000 pounds of payload to an equatorial orbit at a low altitude of 1,200 miles, or up to 661 pounds to a 310-mile polar orbit. of height.
If it reaches an altitude of 50 miles, it will be the first time Virgin Orbit has successfully launched something into space.
The division owned by Richard Branson postponed the first orbital test flight of LauncherOne on May 24, 2020 due to a problem with a sensor.
“Everything has gone smoothly: the equipment, the plane and the rocket are in excellent shape. However, we have a sensor that acts upwards,” the company tweeted.
Ten NASA CubeSats and several American universities will be aboard LauncherOne, which can supply more than 1,000 pounds of payload to an equatorial orbit at a low altitude of 1,200 miles, or up to 661 pounds to a 310-mile polar orbit. of height
“As a precaution, we are unloading fuel to deal with it,” he said, adding that the launch was “scrubbed for today”.
Another attempt, on May 25, took off and saw the launch of Cosmic Girl’s LauncherOne, but its engine died quickly and crashed into the Pacific.
According to the company, the failure was caused by a breakdown of a liquid oxygen supply line to the rocket’s first-stage engine.
The first launch of LauncherOne in May 2020 was a mistake, as the rocket’s engine died shortly after detaching from Cosmic Girl.
“The story isn’t terribly kind to the initial flights,” said Will Pomerantz, vice president of special projects at Virgin Orbit. “Taking my best faith estimate, about half the maiden [rocket] the flights fail. So it’s a kind of historical probability that we’re against. “
Pomerantz insisted that the Virgin Orbit team had done everything possible to prepare for the launch.
“Essentially, you get to a point where you look under every rock and make sure there’s nothing else to do to verify that the system is ready.”
“That’s what we did.”
In December, another attempt, called “Launch Demo 2”, was aborted from the American spaceport of New Mexico due to a wave of coronavirus cases in Los Angeles, where Virgin Orbit is located.
The company said several team members had tested positive, although there was no transmission among staff.