Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is launched from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA
What is Virgin Orbit?
Virgin Orbit is a new commercial spaceflight company founded by Sir Richard Branson and based in Long Beach, California. The company plans to provide launch services for small satellites using LauncherOne, a reusable two-stage orbital rocket.
Virgin Orbit’s first test flight took place on May 25, 2017, when LauncherOne was carried aloft beneath Cosmic Girl, a converted Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet aircraft. The successful launch demonstrated that Virgin Orbit’s novel air-launch system could work as intended.
What are the advantages of air-launching rockets?
There are several advantages to launching rockets from an aircraft instead of from the ground. One is that it opens up many more potential launch sites since an airplane can take off and land virtually anywhere there is a runway of sufficient length. This flexibility can be particularly important for launching payloads to polar orbits or other difficult-to-reach destinations.
Another advantage is that an airplane can climb much higher than a ground-based launcher before releasing its payload, which gives the rocket a boost in velocity and reduces fuel requirements. This also allows for finer control over the final orbit since atmospheric drag is less of a factor at high altitudes. Finally, launching from an aircraft enables Virgin Orbit to recover and reuse its LauncherOne rockets, further reducing costs.