Virgin Orbit prepared to try to send satellites into space for the first time

Virgin Orbit – a sister company to billionaire Richard Branson’s space tourism company, Virgin Galactic – will try a second test of its small satellite launch rocket today, months after it failed to reach orbit during the first attempt. It will also be the first time that the company will attempt to launch functional satellites into space on behalf of NASA.

Sometime after 1 pm ET, Virgin Orbit’s custom Boeing 747 will take off from Virgin Galactic’s spaceport in the Mojave Desert and ascend to 35,000 feet with the satellite launch rocket attached to its wing. As soon as it reaches a predetermined location, the rocket should fall and catch fire, taking the small satellites on board to orbit around the Earth. Virgin Orbit says the launch window will last until 5 pm (Eastern Time).

Virgin Orbit tweeted Sunday morning with the goal of taking off at 10:30 am PT (1:30 pm ET).

There is no live broadcast of the test, although the company plans to tweet updates throughout the flight. It will make photos and videos available sometime after the test is complete.

Virgin Orbit has spent years developing this airborne rocket launch method and has been conducting increasingly complex flight tests since 2018. But the company’s first full test of its rocket launch capabilities in May last year did not go quite as planned. The plane went up correctly, the rocket crashed and the main engine caught fire. But a problem with the liquid oxygen fuel line prevented the rocket from reaching orbit.

Dan Hart, CEO of Virgin Orbit, said during a conference call earlier this month that the company has made changes to these propellant lines and has done an “enormous amount of testing” since May, despite the pandemic.

“Watching [Virgin Orbit] getting up to the occasion and delving into the details and driving the maturation of the system, and doing it in a pandemic environment is really amazing to watch, ”said Hart.

Technical corrections aside, another difference between the previous test and this one is that Virgin Orbit will try to deliver real commercial payloads to a customer for the first time: NASA. The space agency commissioned Virgin Orbit to transport 10 different small satellites to various universities. Each will perform a variety of missions, from cleaning up space debris, practicing inspection and maintenance of other spaceships, to making meteorological observations. The complete list is available on the Virgin Orbit website.

This mission was supposed to take place in December, but was postponed because some members of the Virgin Orbit launch team had to be quarantined. Hart said Virgin Orbit “made a great effort to ensure the safety of the team” ahead of today’s launch. A big part of that is having people working remotely, but for those who need to be on site, Hart said Virgin Orbit is reinforcing social detachment, making employees use PPE, disinfecting spaces and installing air purifiers. “All the tools you can imagine that are available in the industry, we apply, but we have a team that is anxious, that is focused,” he said.

The launch attempt was rescheduled earlier this month, although it has sometimes dropped into today’s window. The company tweeted on Saturday that the hardware is “in great shape” and that the weather looks favorable.

Virgin Orbit’s approach to launching satellites is quite different from SpaceX or other major launch suppliers that NASA and others typically use. But it is a market that the company believes will help take a bite out of the growing small satellite market. When launched from an airplane in the air, the Virgin Orbit system does not need such a large rocket or so much fuel, which helps to keep costs low. The company argues that this is a potentially more flexible system, as it theoretically makes it possible to launch satellites from anywhere a 747 can take off and land.

(These reasons could be the reason why Virgin Orbit also signed a contract with the Department of Defense. Virgin Orbit also wants to launch missions to Mars.)

But Virgin Orbit must first prove that the system works and that the company can be profitable. Supporters such as Branson and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, have sustained development so far. The company is now seeking up to $ 200 million in new funds, after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on developing the airborne launch system that will be tested again today.

Hart emphasized in the call that this is a test flight and that the company will be “thrilled to get the data” generated along the way so that it can continue to develop and refine the launch system. He also said that the Virgin Orbit team is “aware that there is a risk of reaching the final orbit.”

But Hart said that Virgin Orbit has “been working vigorously and analyzing all the details and ensuring that we have the best possible chance to enter orbit”, considering that there are real satellites on board this time. That work included the help of an investigation team made up of people from NASA’s launch partner, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Air Force and industry professionals.

“We really immersed our engineering team with a new set of eyes to make sure we were basically not drinking our own bath water,” said Hart.

Update on January 17, 11:30 am ET: Adds updated departure time from 1:30 pm ET and new Virgin Orbit tweet