4/20/2023 0 Comments Virgin orbitWhen Hart spoke with Inverse on July 7, it was one week after the company’s successful Tubular Bells: Part One mission. Unconventional, sure, but the launch went according to Virgin Orbit’s plan, and company president and CEO Dan Hart is relieved. It remains to be seen if the system’s versatility and relatively low cost will win out.The official Virgin Orbit livestream of the company’s Tubular Bells mission. There aren’t yet many direct competitors for small individual launches like those offered by Virgin Orbit, although heavier launchers from more established companies such as SpaceX can compete by launching several small payloads on the same rocket. But this project has been delayed multiple times and may still be some distance from making its first commercial launch.Īs the provision of launch services moves ever more into the private sector, LauncherOne must make an economic case to survive in an increasingly competitive market. The Pegasus launch vehicle still exists but hasn’t launched since 2019.īritish aerospace company Reaction Engines aims to fully combine aircraft and spacecraft with the SABRE engine which can function like a jet within the atmosphere and a chemical rocket in space. SpaceX abandoned an air-launched Falcon variant way back in 2012. There are not many other air launch programmes in development. Longer term, there are plans to expand the LauncherOne rocket with a third stage, which may be able to place smaller satellites – 50kg or so – into much more distant orbits to fly past Mars or Venus. In the short term, several launch contracts are already in place. The Pegasus launch service is still operational, and has completed 39 successful flights, but its launches are expensive and only four have been made in the last ten years. Nasa launched a Pegasus rocket from a B-52 bomber as long ago as 1990. The idea of air launching has been around for some time. For small satellites, cubesats, micro-satellites and nano-satellites – all of which are being rapidly adopted by the space industry – air launches could represent a significant improvement in versatility and, crucially, cost. Heavy-lift launchers like Ariane, Delta and Falcon can launch many times this weight, and will continue to be used for large satellites and interplanetary missions.īut large, expensive launches aren’t Virgin Orbit’s target audience. While the flight speed of an aircraft can make a small contribution to this requirement, the fuel saving from air launch is not as large as it might first appear.Ī relatively small launch vehicle, LauncherOne, has the capacity to launch 500kg into low earth orbit. Launching a rocket 10km from the ground saves some fuel, but most of the fuel requirement to achieve orbit is not in gaining height, but getting it moving with enough speed so that it falls into orbit. For comparison, LauncherOne weighs 30 tons, and will only be used to carry small satellites. Stratolaunch, the developers of the enormous carrier aircraft of the same name able to carry a rocket weighing 250 tons, abandoned its heavy-lift launch vehicle program in 2019. A dedicated carrier aircraft may be able to carry much more, but for now there is not much scope for larger launchers. The size of rocket is limited to the carrying capacity of the aircraft. Of course, air-launching isn’t a perfect solution. Virgin Orbit/Greg Robinson, CC BY There are limits Pesky weather conditions can simply be flown around, and different launch requirements for different spacecraft can easily be accommodated. With an aircraft, it’s easy to change launch sites because it can take off from a commercial airport. Traditional rocket launches are often repeatedly delayed by bad weather conditions. Air-launching takes advantage of this by attaching a rocket to an aircraft and releasing it at high altitude.Īs well as saving fuel getting off the ground, aircraft launches offer other benefits. When satellites are launched from a plane, the carrier aircraft functions as both a launch site and a reusable first stage of the rocket.Īircraft are more efficient than rockets at getting off the ground, but they cannot function without an atmosphere to generate aerodynamic lift. A third stage operates on the same principle and typically places the payload – the part we want to get into space – in its final orbit or interplanetary trajectory. When the rocket reaches a certain altitude, the first stage then separates, leaving the second to ignite. The first stage is the part which ignites at launch, powering the rocket from the ground. Usually, a rocket launched from a launch site on the ground will have two or three stages, which allow the rocket to shed weight as it uses up fuel. Virgin Orbit/Greg Robinson, CC BY Launching from a plane
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