Virgin Orbit’s modified Boeing 747 jet — dubbed ‘Cosmic Girl’ — launched on Monday from the English town of Newquay, Cornwall, 245 miles west of London in a first launch for the country from UK soil.
The modified Boeing 747 jet will fly to about 35,000 feet before releasing a rocket strapped under its wing.
The rocket will travel to between 310 and 745 miles (499 and 1199 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface and then release nine satellites into the Earth’s low orbit.
The launch marks a first for Virgin Orbit — a subsidiary of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group — of commercial satellites from western Europe, and the first launch for Virgin Orbit outside the United States.
Since January 2021, the American company has conducted four successful launches from the Mojave desert in California.
Virgin Orbit’s ‘Cosmic girl’ is set to return to base approximately between 7 pm ET to 8 pm ET on Monday.
Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit, described the UK mission as a “historic endeavor.”
“This launch represents the opening of a new era in the British space industry and new partnerships across industry, government, and allies,” he said in a statement released Friday.
The satellites are owned by seven customers, including private companies and government agencies. Among other things, they will be used for preventing illegal trafficking, smuggling and terrorism, the company said in Friday’s press release, as well as for reducing the environmental impact of production.
The mission, named “Start Me Up” after the Rolling Stones’ 1981 song, is a joint venture between Virgin Orbit, the UK Space Agency, Cornwall’s local government and the UK’s Royal Air Force.
‘A new era’
The launch marks a key milestone in the United Kingdom’s growing commercial satellite sector.
The country has been working on commercial spaceports for several years in a bid to capture a bigger share of the rapidly growing global space market, which Morgan Stanley estimates could be worth over $1 trillion by 2040.
The country’s £16.5 billion ($20 billion) space industry directly supported about 47,000 jobs between 2019 and 2020, according to the latest available government figures.
Ian Annett, the UK Space Agency’s deputy chief executive, said Friday that the launch signaled a “new era” for the UK’s space industry, “putting [it] firmly on the map as Europe’s leading destination for commercial small satellite launch.”
“The development of new orbital launch capabilities is already generating growth, catalyzing investment and creating jobs in Cornwall and other communities across the United Kingdom,” he added.
— Hanna Ziady contributed reporting.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiV2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNubi5jb20vMjAyMy8wMS8wOS9idXNpbmVzcy92aXJnaW4tb3JiaXQtdWstc2F0ZWxsaXRlLWxhdW5jaC1zY24vaW5kZXguaHRtbNIBW2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmNubi5jb20vY25uLzIwMjMvMDEvMDkvYnVzaW5lc3MvdmlyZ2luLW9yYml0LXVrLXNhdGVsbGl0ZS1sYXVuY2gtc2NuL2luZGV4Lmh0bWw?oc=5
2023-01-09 22:24:00Z
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