Space Launch Now - LauncherOne

LauncherOne

In-active

Virgin Orbit (VO)

May 25, 2020

Description

LauncherOne is a two stage orbital launch vehicle developed by Virgin Orbit since 2007. It is an air launch to orbit rocket, designed to launch "smallsat" payloads of 300 kilograms (660 lb) into a Sun-synchronous orbit, following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude.

Specifications

Stages
2
Length
16.0 m
Diameter
1.6 m
Fairing Diameter
1.3 m
Launch Mass
30.0 T
Thrust
327.0 kN

Family

Name
LauncherOne
Family
―
Variant
One
Alias
―
Full Name
LauncherOne

Payload Capacity

Launch Cost
$12000000
Low Earth Orbit
500.0 kg
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
―
Direct Geostationary
―
Sun-Synchronous Capacity
300.0 kg

Virgin Orbit

Commercial

President: Dan Hart

VO 2017

Virgin Orbit is a company within the Virgin Group which plans to provide launch services for small satellites. The company was formed in 2017 to develop the air-launched LauncherOne rocket, launched from Cosmic Girl, which had previously been a project of Virgin Galactic. Based in Long Beach, California, Virgin Orbit has more than 300 employees led by president Dan Hart, a former vice president of government satellite systems at Boeing. Virgin Orbit focuses on small satellite launch, which is one of three capabilities being focused on by Virgin Galactic. These capabilities are: human spaceflight operations, small satellite launch, and advanced aerospace design, manufacturing, and test

Previous Flights

flew on six previous launch(es).

LauncherOne | Start Me Up

Virgin Orbit | United States of America
Air launch to orbit
Jan. 9, 2023, 11:08 p.m.

Status: Launch Failure

Mission:

7 payloads for government and private customers. This mission is the first launch from the United Kingdom.

Low Earth Orbit

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LauncherOne | Straight Up

Virgin Orbit | United States of America
Air launch to orbit
July 2, 2022, 6:53 a.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Launch contracted by the U.S. Space Force for the Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP), with payloads provided by the DoD Space Test Program (STP) as part of the Space Force’s STP-28A mission. It will carry seven satellites from multiple government agencies that are experiments intended to demonstrate novel modular satellite bus, space domain awareness, and adaptive radio frequency technologies. The target orbit is approximately 500 km above the Earth’s surface at 45 degrees inclination.

Low Earth Orbit

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LauncherOne | Above the Clouds

Virgin Orbit | United States of America
Air launch to orbit
Jan. 13, 2022, 10:52 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Mission to a 500 km circular orbit inclined at 45 degrees carrying eight R&D satellites from US government agencies with communications and navigation experiments as well as two Earth-observation nanosatellites from Polish company SatRevolution.

Low Earth Orbit

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LauncherOne | Tubular Bells, Part One

Virgin Orbit | United States of America
Air launch to orbit
June 30, 2021, 2:47 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The mission includes three cubesats for US Department of Defense which are launched as a part of the DoS Space Test Program (STP); the Netherland's first military satellite, a cubesat called BRIK II; and two optical satellites, STORK-4 and STORK-5, for SatRevolution's STORK constellation. The mission name, "Tubular Bells, Part One", references the first music album released by Virgin Records label in the 1970s. The label was established by Virgin Orbit CEO Richard Branson.

Low Earth Orbit

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LauncherOne | Launch Demo 2

Virgin Orbit | United States of America
Air launch to orbit
Jan. 17, 2021, 7:38 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

This is Virgin Orbit's second attempt to launch the LauncherOne rocket. It also carries cubesats which were contracted by NASA through Venture Class Launch Services contract.

Polar Orbit

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