Thursday, July 11, 2019

Virgin Orbit Sees Successful Rocket Release Test

Long Beach-based Virgin Orbit, the small satellite launch service startup backed by Sir Richard Branson, said it conducted its first successful "drop test" release of a rocket from its modified 747. According to Virgin Orbit, the "drop test", from 35,000 feet, is the next step along its development of its small satellite launch service, which it has been working on for four years. The drop test was conducted from Mojave, and released a 70-foot long rocket for a drop onto a bombing range at Edwards Air Force Base. Virgin Orbit intends to eventually "drop" rockets from its modified 747, the "Cosmic Girl", with those rockets then shortly firing themselves into space from high altitude. Virgin Orbit's rockets are intended to launch small fleets of "cube sats" or "small satellites" into space. Currently, those satellites have mostly been launched into space on rocket "ride sharing", where they are deployed following the launch of a larger satellite payload; another Southern California company, Rocket Lab, has also recently started launching those small satellites into space with its own small launch rocket.