Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit is a company within the Virgin Group which provides launch services for small satellites. On January 17, 2021, their LauncherOne successfully reached orbit, and successfully deployed 10 cubesats.[2]

Virgin Orbit
TypePrivate
IndustryAerospace
PredecessorVirgin Galactic
FoundedMarch 2, 2017 (2017-03-02)
Headquarters
Long Beach, California
,
United States
Key people
Dan Hart[1] (President and CEO)
ProductsLauncherOne
ServicesOrbital rocket launch
Owners
Number of employees
390 (2017)
Websitevirginorbit.com

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.[3] 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.[4][5]

Virgin Orbit focuses on small satellite launch, which was 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.[6]

Vehicles

LauncherOne
Main article: LauncherOne

On January 17, 2021, LauncherOne became the first Virgin Orbit vehicle to reach orbit, successfully deploying 10 CubeSats into Low Earth Orbit for NASA.[2]

LauncherOne was deployed from the left wing of a retrofitted Boeing 747, 10 kilometers above Pacific Ocean.[7] A unique approach as Virgin's competition all use launchpads.

The rocket was dedicated to the memory of to Eve Branson, mother of Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, who died from Covid-19 on the 8th of January 2021.[8][9]

Cosmic Girl
Main article: Cosmic Girl (aircraft)

Cosmic Girl is the name of the modified Boeing 747 that Virgin Orbit uses to launch its rockets.[10]

VOX Space

VOX Space is a subsidiary of Virgin Orbit that was created in the early 2020s. The company plans to supply launch services for the US military, sometimes referred to as the "national security launch market."[11] The company intends to use the Virgin Orbit LauncherOne launch vehicle.

In April 2020, VOX Space was awarded a US$35 million contract for three launches of 44 cubesats. The first launch is slated to occur no earlier than October 2021.[11][12]

Other projects

Ventilators

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Virgin Orbit announced it was a partner in a new venture to build comparatively low-grade mechanical ventilators (breathing machines) -- specifically "bridge ventilators" for partially recovered patients and patients not in intensive care—to address the critical global shortage of mechanical ventilators during the pandemic. To develop and produce them, Virgin Global—with the University of California Irvine and the University of Texas at Austin—formed the Bridge Ventilator Consortium. They had a prototype awaiting approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in March, and hoped to begin production in April.[13][14][15]

Personnel

In October 2019, Virgin Orbit announced that Matthew Stannard was joining as a pilot on a three-year contract. Stannard had previously served in the Royal Air Force as a test and evaluation pilot notably on Typhoon jets. Orbit is about to start testing of its Cosmic Girl launch platform.[16]

References
  1. Fernholz, Tim (June 13, 2017). "Virgin Orbit's newly-minted CEO will use psychology to launch satellites faster than anyone else". Quartz. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  2. Christian Davenport (2021-01-17). "Virgin Orbit rocket reaches Earth orbit, adding an entrant to the commercial space race". The Washington Post.
  3. Irene Klotz (2 March 2017). "Virgin Galactic Unveils Spin-Off Virgin Orbit for Small-Satellite Launches". Space.com.
  4. Davenport, Christian (March 2, 2017). "Richard Branson starting a new venture dedicated to launching small satellites into space". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  5. "Virgin Galactic Makes Satellite Launch Service New Company". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. March 2, 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  6. "Welcome, Virgin Orbit!". Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  7. Watch this rocket launch from the wing of a jumbo jet - CNN Video, retrieved 2021-01-19
  8. January 2021, Mike Wall 17. "Virgin Orbit launches 10 satellites to orbit in landmark test flight". Space.com. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  9. "Branson's Virgin rocket takes satellites to orbit". BBC News. 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  10. "Branson's Virgin rocket takes satellites to orbit". BBC News. 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  11. Erwin, Sandra (10 April 2019). "Virgin Orbit's VOX Space wins $35 million U.S. Space Force launch contract". SpaceNews. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  12. Kanayama, Lee (2020-04-10). "LauncherOne Cryo Captive Carry test on Cosmic Girl - wins smallsat missions". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  13. "Virgin Orbit designs new ventilator as part of Virgin Group's efforts to combat coronavirus," March, 2020, Space.com, retrieved April 2, 2020
  14. "Coronavirus: Companies are helping meet shortages of ventilators, gowns, and more," March, 2020, Business Insider, retrieved April 2, 2020.
  15. "Branson's Virgin Orbit to begin coronavirus ventilator mass production," March 30, 2020, NBC News, retrieved April 2, 2020.
  16. Virgin Orbit selects RAF pilot as it plans satellite launch program, Ed Adamczyk, SpaceDaily, 2019-10-04
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