Overnight, problems arose with the planned launch of the satellite in Great Britain. “It looks like an anomaly prevented us from reaching orbit,” tweeted the US company involved, Virgin Orbit. You evaluate the information. A British space agency official later described the mission as “unsuccessful”.
The rocket did not reach the required altitude and the satellites could not be deployed, Matt Archer of the UK Space Agency told reporters at Spaceport Cornwall. In the next few days there will be an investigation to find out how the technical failure could have happened and how to proceed.
british premiere
A jumbo jet had already flown from British soil for the first time in Britain as a launch pad for space satellites. The converted machine, called “Cosmic Girl”, took off from Newquay Airport in southwest England on Monday night as planned.
AP/PA/Ben Birchall
At a height of about 10.7 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean, the converted Boeing 747 aircraft would then send a launch vehicle into space, which would in turn send nine small satellites into orbit. Apparently there were problems. What exactly happened initially was unclear. The plane, however, returned to Earth safely and as planned, he said.
London hopes for a boost to the economy
Newquay is one of a total of seven planned spaceports in the UK. The first vertical launch of a rocket is planned in Scotland later this year. The government expects the space industry to contribute around £3.8 billion (€4.3 billion) to the UK economy over the next decade.