A modified Boeing 747 carries the LauncherOne missile under its wings. Virgo Orbit
The first launch of the Virgin Orbit-controlled “Start me up” mission took place from the Newquay site. It opens perspectives for the commercial and military markets.
British humor continues to sweep the space industry. In February 2018, the cherry red Tesla launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket read “Don’t Panic” on the dashboard – a message for the model behind the wheel. There is now the mission “Start me up” – literally “enlighten me” in English, based on the Rolling Stones song. But also to the fact that if the space mission is successful this Monday, the UK will have taken an important step towards acquiring an autonomous capacity to access space.
The mission, piloted by Virgin Orbit, a space company co-owned by billionaire Richard Branson, launched nine small satellites into low orbit tonight on behalf of seven private and government clients. This is a first in several respects. It is indeed the first launch of satellites from western Europe, the baptism of fire for the site of Newquay, a hotspot in south-west England well-known to surfers, which will then be the first spaceport to be stationed in western Europe (it already has the French spaceport of Kourou in Guyana, but he is based in South America).
A modified Boeing 747 with a missile under the wing
Start Me Up is the result of a collaboration between the UK Space Agency (UKSA), Cornwall Council, the Royal Air Force and Virgin Orbit. It’s also a first for the latter, as it’s the first-ever mission away from its bases in the United States. This with a launch system that combines an airplane and a rocket and was tested over the Atlantic in 2017. A modified Boeing 747 named “Cosmic Girl” is scheduled to take off from 22:16 (UTC) with the Launcher One rocket under one of its wings. Once it reaches 35,000 feet, an altitude of about 10.5 km, the device fires the rocket, which at that precise moment fires its engines to break away from the Earth’s gravitational pull and reach a low orbit around those below installed satellites insert fairing.
If the mission is successful, the Newquay Cosmodrome would give credence to its ambition to become the headquarters for express launches of small commercial but also military satellites, thus serving as infrastructure dedicated to what the armies call: “Responsive Launch”. ; or a reactive start in the face of an emergency situation.
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“Ukraine woke the world up in so many ways,” Virgin Orbit chief executive Dan Hart said on Sunday. The conflict has shown the usefulness of satellites in helping the Ukrainian armies position themselves, identify targets and neutralize them. The war in Ukraine has also shown the importance of responsiveness, as seen by Elon Musk, who was arrested by Kyiv on February 24, the day of the Russian invasion, and had terminals delivered to Ukraine within 48 hours so that the country could be overtaken the Internet is connected to the Internet Starlink constellation. This replaced the largely destroyed terrestrial Internet network.
“There’s clearly hope for European and American cooperation … to be responsive so that if something happens in the world, we can deploy satellites immediately,” Dan Hart said. Force plans to conduct test missions to demonstrate the relevance of this type of ultra-fast launch.
According to several analysts, other spaceports operating on the same model could be opened around the world to provide quick launch capabilities for armies.
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