[ad_1] Virgin Orbit’s first launch demonstration flight has ended in a very unceremonious fashion. The spaceflight firm reported a “clean release” of LauncherOne from the Cosmic Girl host aircraft, but the rocket’s journey “terminated shortly into the flight.” In other words, LauncherOne didn’t have a realistic chance of reaching orbit. The company had warned that […]
Category: launcherone
Virgin Orbit plans to send cubesats to Mars as early as 2022
[ad_1] Virgin Orbit is a spinoff of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and is dedicated to low-cost smallsat projects. This new Virgin Orbit endeavor was reportedly inspired by NASA’s recent InSight mission, which successfully sent two cubesats to Mars. Now, the company believes it can send its own similar spacecraft (as light as 110 pounds) into […]
Virgin Orbit’s first rocket drop test was a success
[ad_1] Company chief Dan Hart told CNBC in an interview that he hoped the first full-fledged launch would take place “before the end of the summer.” A first commercial launch, meanwhile, could come roughly eight to 10 weeks after that. Virgin already has six rockets in progress in its factory, and thinks it can produce […]
Virgin Orbit preps the LauncherOne rocket for its first drop test
[ad_1] Ever wonder what #LauncherOne looks like from Cosmic Girl’s perspective? Here’s some more footage from our most recent captive carry flight test, featuring never-before-seen angles of our flying launchpad. pic.twitter.com/IqMNi5mK2x — Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) June 7, 2019 In fact, Virgin Orbit will release a fully built and fully loaded LauncherOne during that flight. The […]