The company that sponsored the mission wanted to leave British soil in a customized Boeing 747
Unrelated to Virgo Orbit. The first attempt to launch satellites from Cornwall onto British soil failed. Virgin Orbit itself, the company that owns it, popularized it pioneered the launch of satellites and is owned by British billionaire Richard Branson: The launched rocket has arrived in space, but has not reached the target orbit.
The dynamic
According to the aerospace company, the Boeing 747 serves as a reconstruction LauncherOne system transport aircraft, after successfully launching from the runway at Spaceport Cornwall, traveled to the designated drop zone and successfully deployed the rocket. This then ignited its engines and successfully reached space.
The inconvenience
Subsequently, the flight continued with the separation of the stages and the ignition of the second of them. And here something went wrong. During the firing of the rocket’s second-stage engine while traveling at speeds in excess of 11,000 miles per hour, an anomaly occurred in the system, forcing the launch crew to end the mission early.
The implications
Beyond the technical inconveniences, the result of the first mission Virgo Orbit represents a setback in the old continent’s attempt to change that “Geopolitics” of launches. In fact, the European Space Agency ESA uses the French overseas territory of Guyana in Gourou in South America as a launch center. Similarly, the United States, China, and the Russian Federation, as well as other powers involved in space conquest, use their territory to launch missions. But the experiment is only postponed
Jan 10, 2023 (edit Jan 10, 2023 | 11:24am)
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