to the south pole. that makes it a very useful orbit for things like earth observation, climate data, weather and also intelligence gathering, communications, navigation as well. earlier, i spoke to ceo of space forge, who own one of the satellites going into orbit. alongside the uk science minister george freeman what this launch means for space research in the uk. this is a huge moment for the uk space sector and space economy. for three reasons, really. firstly, space is the frontier of the global race at the moment, geopolitically, huge investment as the sector moves from quite a cold war military sovereign sector to something much more open and commercial. and we set out a uk space strategy with a very clear intention to be a leader in the commercial market, and we are very strong on the science and the technology. tonight, we win the global race in europe to launch, and that is a big moment.
founded by sir richard branson. the british entrepreneur has had one of his old passenger airliners converted to carry a rocket, called launcherone, beneath its left wing. the plane will take off from newquay airport in southwest england and head west over the atlantic, to a designated launch zone off the coast of ireland. at the appropriate moment, at an altitude of 35,000ft, the aircraft will release the rocket. its first stage engine will then ignite and begin its climb into orbit. because a fully fuelled rocket is a heavy load, the plane s lower deck has been completely stripped to save weight. two flight engineers will sit at consoles to monitor the launch. the bbc s rebecca morelle had a look. here in the cockpit are all the usual controls that you need to fly a plane, but there is one big difference, and it s this. this red square is a release button, and about an hour into the flight, the pilot will press this to drop the rocket. that rocket will release nine satellites into an
(Ma Shuisha) At 9:15 on December 7, the Kuaizhou-11 solid carrier rocket was ignited and lifted off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China, sending the Xingyun Transportation VDES test satellite into the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. The main structure of Kuaizhou-11 solid launch vehicle is made of carbon fiber composite materials. The carrying capacity of the 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit is not less than 1 ton. The overall technical level has reached the international advanced level of solid launch vehicle.
Angara 1 2 launches satellite for Russian Aerospace Forces nasaspaceflight.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nasaspaceflight.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.