Virgin Orbit

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Virgin Orbit LLC
legal form Limited Liability Company
founding 2nd March 2017
Seat Long Beach , California , USA
management Dan Hart (President and CEO )
Number of employees over 300
Branch Aerospace Engineering
Website virginorbit.com

Virgin Orbit is a US aerospace company and part of the Virgin Group . The company was founded in 2017 to separate the development of the airborne launcher LauncherOne from the group's space tourism activities. With the LauncherOne launches for small satellites are offered. The first successful start was on January 17, 2021. The company with around 300 employees (as of 2018) is managed by Dan Hart, the former Vice President of Government Satellite Systems at Boeing .

Flight systems

LauncherOne

two-stage airborne launcher LauncherOne
Cosmic Girl aircraft with LauncherOne on January 17, 2021 before the rocket launch

LauncherOne is a two-stage launcher launched from the Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft . The first stage Newton Three engine uses liquid oxygen as the oxidizer and RP-1 as fuel and has a thrust of 327 kN . According to the manufacturer, payloads weighing up to 500 kg can be brought into low earth orbit (LEO) or 300 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit.

The main development goals were high flexibility and a low starting price. This is to be guaranteed by the use of simple and therefore reliable technology and take-off from an aircraft. The starting price is expected to be around $ 12 million. The rocket's first successful launch took place on January 17, 2021 on behalf of NASA .

Cosmic girl

The Cosmic Girl is the carrier aircraft for LauncherOne. It is a Boeing 747-400 , under the left wing of which the rocket is attached. It was in service as a scheduled airliner for Virgin Atlantic until October 2015, when it was converted to launch LauncherOne missiles. LauncherOne is brought to an altitude of approximately 10.7 kilometers and then dropped.

Locations

Long Beach

Virgin Orbit is headquartered in Long Beach, California. The 16,700 m² hall doubles as a factory and design office. Development and production are to be more closely interlinked.

Mojave

Several Virgin Orbit test rigs are located in Mojave, California . Among other things, LauncherOne engines and fuel tanks are tested there. The Mojave Air & Space Port also serves as the main launch site for Cosmic Girl. The take-offs are monitored and coordinated from Long Beach.

distribution

For US authorities and allies whose satellites are subject to confidentiality, the LauncherOne is marketed by the wholly-owned subsidiary VOX Space . VOX Space is led by Mandy Vaughn, the previous director of business development at Virgin Orbit.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Virgin Galactic announces new commercial space company Virgin Orbit featuring LauncherOne small satellite launch service. Retrieved May 31, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Virgin Orbit's newly-minted CEO will use psychology to launch satellites faster than anyone else. Retrieved May 31, 2018 .
  3. ↑ We are Virgin Orbit. Retrieved June 1, 2018 .
  4. ^ Executive Profile Dan Hart. In: bloomberg.com. Bloomberg LP, accessed June 1, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Virgin Orbit plans 2018 first launch - SpaceNews.com . In: SpaceNews.com . August 2, 2017 ( spacenews.com [accessed June 1, 2018]).
  6. ↑ Virgin Orbit reaches orbit on second LauncherOne mission . Spacenews, January 17, 2021.
  7. ↑ LauncherOne reaches orbit on second attempt with NASA CubeSats . Nasaspaceflight.com, January 17, 2021.
  8. ↑ a b LauncherOne Service Guide. (PDF) Virgin Orbit LLC, August 2018, accessed January 18, 2021 .
  9. ↑ We Are VOX Space. In: voxspace.com. VOX Space, LLC, accessed August 1, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Jonathan Shieber: Virgin creates VOX Space for its government-related launches. In: TechCrunch. Oath Tech Network, November 1, 2017, accessed August 1, 2018 .