Launch Demo News Today

Virgin Orbit is a private small satellite launch provider operated by Virgin Group. We explore their role in the space sector and how their novel air-launch system works.

Virgin Orbit's Start Me Up mission is scheduled to lift off at 10:16 pm GMT on Monday from Spaceport Cornwall, marking a historic day for the UK's space sector.

The downtown Chapel Hill accelerator launched its 20th cohort of companies – with nine new tech, food and health ventures primed for growth.

Virgin Orbit names next mission and expands operations to Brazil May 10, 2021 Following the first successful launch of LauncherOne in January, Virgin Orbit is aiming for their next mission to lift off in June. While the launch campaign is underway, the small satellite launch provider continues to secure additional launch sites around the world for expending launch operations, adding their newest site in Brazil. In a ceremony held at Brasília Air Base, in the capital of the country, the company...

Virgin Orbit announced it will launch its next LauncherOne mission carrying payloads for the US Department of Defense, the Royal Netherlands Air Force, and SatRevolution in June. The launch will take place at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California and will be the first since Virgin Orbit’s successful Launch Demo 2 mission in January. The LauncherOne vehicle will take its payloads to a destination circular orbit at 500 km, 60 degrees inclination. Virgin has named the mission “Tubular...

A cubesat, largely built by undergraduate students and scheduled to launch on Sunday, will explore the feasibility of a new propulsion method that could enable very small satellites to move around Earth’s orbit without carrying fuel. This could pave the way for tiny satellites that stay in orbit for long periods and operate in swarms, monitoring storms and natural disasters, for example. A cubesat is about the size of a loaf of bread, designed to hitch a ride into space with a major mission. ...

Virgin Orbits LauncherOne reaches orbit on second attempt LauncherOne roars into orbit after being dropped by the Cosmic Girl mothership Virgin Orbit Virgin Orbit It was the second times a charm as Virgin Orbits airdropped LauncherOne rocket put 10 NASA CubeSat payloads into low-Earth orbit on the second attempt in less than eight months under the space agencys Launch Services Program (LSP). On January 17, 2021, at 10:50 am PST (18:50 GMT), the 747-800 Cosmic Girl mothership with the La...

Virgin Orbit has successfully launched satellites into space using a modified Boeing 747. Nicknamed Cosmic Girl, the plane held under its wing the “LauncherOne” rocket carrying 10 shoebox-sized satellites selected by NASA and took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port on Sunday morning. After roughly one hour of flight time, the rocket was dropped from the wing and began accelerating to speeds of 17,500 mph, reaching a height of 500km before deploying the satellites. “A new gateway to sp...

Spaceflight Insider Cullen Desforges January 18th, 2021 Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne successfully ignites its engine moments after being dropped by a carrier aircraft to begin its flight toward orbit. Credit: Virgin Orbit After several hours filled with hopeful anticipation, California-based company Virgin Orbit successfully air-launched its LauncherOne rocket Jan. 17 over the Mojave Desert. Virgin Orbit confirmed in a series of tweets that the launch vehicle successfully separated from the com...

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit project on Sunday successfully flew a rocket into space from the wing of a 747 plane.