Friday, November 17, 2017

Virgin Orbit Snags Defense Department Launch Contract

Mojave-based Virgin Orbit, the Richard Branson-backed space launch startup which spun out of Virgin Galactic, said on Thursday afternoon that it has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense. According to Virgin Orbit, the DOD has purchased a launch on its LauncherOne aircraft, with technology development payloads from the DOD's Space Test Program planning to launch on its rockets as early as January 2019. Financial details of the defense contract were not announced. Branson announced Virgin Orbit earlier this year, taking technology developed originally for launching tourists into space at Virgin Galactic, and instead applying it to launch small, commercial satellites into space. The new launch contract is with yet another company created by Branson, Vox Space, which will operate as a subsidiary of Virgin Orbit specifically to launch payloads for the U.S. defense and intelligence community. Vox Space is headquartered in Manhattan Beach.