Everybody is busy munching Cornish pasties before the launch later tonight.

Virgin's 747-400, Cosmic Girl, will launch a rocket from under its wing.

This will be the first satellite to be launched from from the UK. 

 

Quote

 

The first orbital satellite launch from the UK is due to take place at Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay tonight. If successful, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, carrying a payload of nine satellites, will be dropped from a modified Boeing 747 plane at 35,000 feet off the south coast of Ireland, where it will continue into low Earth orbit and drop its cargo.

The UK has the second-largest satellite building industry in the world, after the US, but relies on public and private launches, such as from NASA or SpaceX, in other countries to get its products into orbit. Many hope that success tonight will mark the beginning of an era in which the UK can launch its own satellites, as well as those from other countries, on home turf.

“It’s been a long road for us to get here, with lots of international agreements and working with countries like Ireland, Spain and Portugal, who are all involved in managing the airspace,” says Matt Archer, director of the UK space flight programme at the UK Space Agency (UKSA). “There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes.”

 

 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2353944-first-satellite-launch-from-the-uk-set-to-go-ahead-tonight-in-cornwall/

 

 

 

It seems nobody is particularly interested.

But..... oh dear. Failure!

Reached orbit but not its final orbit. I'm thinking final burn failed. 

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-01-10/virgin-orbits-statement-in-full-after-uks-space-mission-failed

I am interested! It is a real shame that this launch failed to reach orbit. However as demonstrated many times, reaching orbit is no mean feat. 

I hope they try again soon. 

A disappointment, but they will learn from this, and come back stronger than before. I am just happy to finally see space launches being conducted from the UK

Edited January 10, 20233 yr by Christopher Low

It is a bit of over-sell, I think. All you get to see from the UK is a 747 take-off, nice enough as it is but hardly a "rocket launch" such as a shuttle or a falcon. 

Apparently 2nd stage failure (or should that be 3rd stage if the 747 is the first stage?)  Nothing wrong with the "launch" itself.

1 hour ago, lzamm said:

It is a bit of over-sell, I think. All you get to see from the UK is a 747 take-off, nice enough as it is but hardly a "rocket launch" such as a shuttle or a falcon. 

Apparently 2nd stage failure (or should that be 3rd stage if the 747 is the first stage?)  Nothing wrong with the "launch" itself.

 

The GUI with all the telemetry was on screen and we did see video from the camera on the rocket.

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

A disappointment, but they will learn from this, and come back stronger than before. I am just happy to finally see space launches being conducted from the UK

 

7 spaceports planned Chris. And to be honest, I didn't realise that the UK is the second biggest satellite manufacturer behind the US.

We may have not been able to see the "launch" of the rocket from the 747, but I was under the impression that it would have been visible from the UK skies (assuming that they were clear) as it powered its way to orbit? It would certainly have come back this way, as it has to be launched in the direction of the Earth's rotation.

Edited January 10, 20233 yr by Christopher Low

So the rocket is roughly 30t for a payload of 500 kg max for LEO, I am wondering what would be the payload, if it was launched at FL600 / Mach 2

OOPS. Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket suffers in-flight failure in Britain's first orbital flight.

Edited January 10, 20233 yr by Adrian123

Will the UK eventually be doing vertical rocket launches from the spaceports, or are they confined to only launching from an aircraft at altitude?

Dave

They will also be launching rockets vertically from the pad. The 747 carrier aircraft is just one way to significantly reduce the amount of fuel required to reach orbit, which translates to increased payload capacity for the same size of rocket compared to a vertical launch. Obviously, this launch option is limited to relatively small rockets, as I don't expect to see an SLS under one of Cosmic Girl's wings anytime soon!!

Edited January 10, 20233 yr by Christopher Low

31 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

Will the UK eventually be doing vertical rocket launches from the spaceports, or are they confined to only launching from an aircraft at altitude?

Dave

Rumour going around of large orders being sent out to Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam etc. buying up all the rubber.  Seems there's talk of an extremely large rubber-band in the offing as a back-up to any future rocket failure.....

2 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

We may have not been able to see the "launch" of the rocket from the 747, but I was under the impression that it would have been visible from the UK skies (assuming that they were clear) as it powered its way to orbit? It would certainly have come back this way, as it has to be launched in the direction of the Earth's rotation.

 

I suspect from Ireland it may have been visible.