Virgin Orbit

[Beati Dogu]

They've been busy doing his speed taxi-runs with the 70 foot long rocket attached at Long Beach Airport in California.









Kinda cool, even if the very similar Pegasus rocket has been around since 1990 & is still in use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bla3RsVia9A

Pegasus is smaller and is launched from a modified Lockheed Tristar.

[Beati Dogu]

Interesting. Unlike Pegasus, LauncherOne is a liquid fuelled rocket (RP-1/LOX) and should be a lot cheaper ("less than US$12 million")


Virgin Orbit did the first flight test with the rocket attached the other day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Z8nDShFes

It certainly looks the part.

[Beati Dogu]

They took it up to operational altitude on Monday - around 35,000 feet.

Apparently they flew at nearly 700 mph, or Mach 0.9 as well, which is pretty impressive; But then the 747 is.

[Beati Dogu]

MartG said:

Launching from an aircraft at 30,000ft they are above a sizeable proportion of the atmosphere so can begin accelerating horizontally immediately after launch

It seems they plan to pull the aircraft into a steep climb before they launch the rocket.

The first test launch will be early next year.

[Beati Dogu]

First drop test carried out over the range at Edwards AFB, California.



The rocket was inert and crashed into the desert.

It's always a relief when a new bit of kit doesn't actually take out the launch aircraft:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPTnmZ_HPAs

[Beati Dogu]

A video of the drop test. You can see how pitched up the 747 is at the point of release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWaW3IzVGBw

The "rocket" was full of water and antifreeze, to simulate the weight of a fully fuelled rocket.

[Beati Dogu]

The Virgin Orbit 747 "Cosmic Girl" met up for a formation flight with the Red Arrows over the Mojave desert, California.



This is part of their big North American tour. Their Hawks don't have the ability to refuel in the air, so they had to stop off in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland to get across the Atlantic.


They Royal Air Force are actually seconding a Typhoon pilot, Flight Lieutenant Stannard to Virgin Orbit.

https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/raf-pilot-sec...

[Beati Dogu]

Yes, it really shows off how big those Jumbos are too.

Here's some more pics of the event, plus other incredible stills and video from the Red Arrows' tour:

https://twitter.com/rafredarrows

[Beati Dogu]

Maybe he should have done that before he got the begging bowl out for already hard pressed taxpayers.

[Beati Dogu]

Virgin Orbit are intending to do their first test launch at the weekend, over the Pacific Ocean.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-527...

[Beati Dogu]

The rocket launch failed soon after release, but the aircraft is OK.

"We've confirmed a clean release from the aircraft. However, the mission terminated shortly into the flight. Cosmic Girl and our flight crew are safe and returning to base."

- Virgin Orbit

[Beati Dogu]

It seems the rocket ignited OK, but broke up soon after that. More info to come of course.

[Beati Dogu]

Virgin Orbit are doing a second air drop launch at the moment. No livestream, but they giving constant updates on Twitter.

It was released ok and the first stage engine fired up this time. It got through max-Q, the first stage burned to duration and the stages separated as planned. The fairings have been jettisoned and it has now reached orbit. They’ll coast for about 30 mins before releasing the payload.

Sounds like they’ve made it at last.

Edited by Beati Dogu on Sunday 17th January 20:19

[Beati Dogu]

I guess that hard point on the Tristar is what they adapted to carry the Pegasus rocket. Maybe not, looks looks it was attached to the belly.

Edited by Beati Dogu on Saturday 14th January 13:05

[Beati Dogu]

“Virgin Orbit pauses operations for a week, furloughs nearly entire staff as it seeks funding.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/15/virgin-orbit-pause...

It’s not looking good.