NewtonTwo made several short-duration firings by early 2014. NewtonOne was tested up to a full-duration burn of five minutes. Design and construction of the first engines was completed by 2014. ![]() Under plans announced in 2012, the second stage was to be powered by NewtonOne, a 16 kN (3,600 lb f) thrust engine, and the first stage by a scaled-up version called NewtonTwo, with 211 kN (47,000 lb f) of thrust. Virgin planned at the time to market the 200 kg (440 lb) payload delivery to Sun-synchronous orbit for under US$10 million per mission, while the maximum payload for low Earth orbit (LEO) missions would be somewhat larger at 500 kg (1,100 lb). In October 2012, Virgin announced that LauncherOne would be designed so that it could place 200 kg (440 lb) in Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Both Surrey Satellite Technology and Sierra Nevada Space Systems were at the time reported to be developing satellite buses "optimized to the design of LauncherOne". These included GeoOptics, Skybox Imaging, Spaceflight Services, and Planetary Resources. This would make it a similar configuration to that used by Orbital Sciences' Pegasus, or a smaller version of the StratoLaunch air-launched rocket system.īy 2012, several commercial customers had signed early contracts for launches signaling demand-side support for new small commercial-oriented launch vehicles. The LauncherOne configuration was proposed to be an expendable, two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket air-launched from a White Knight Two carrier aircraft. Virgin Galactic began working on the LauncherOne concept in 2007, and the technical specifications were first described in some detail in late 2009. With Virgin Orbit shutting down all operations after bankruptcy in 2023, the vehicle is unlikely to see additional launches. Virgin Orbit targeted a launch price around US$12 million for the rocket. In 2015, Virgin modified the vehicle design to better target their intended market, and increased the vehicle payload capacity to 300 kg (660 lb) launched to a 500 km (310 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit, suitable for CubeSats and small payloads. įrom 2007 to 2015, Virgin had intended LauncherOne to be a somewhat smaller vehicle with a 200 kg (440 lb) payload to low Earth orbit. LauncherOne was the first all liquid-fuelled air-launched orbital rocket. The final flight on 9 January 2023 also failed to reach orbit. An initial test flight was unsuccessful on, when the rocket failed to reach space. Three further launches successfully reached orbit. The first successful flight was on 17 January 2021, which delivered a payload of 10 CubeSats to low Earth orbit (LEO). Initial work on the program was done by Virgin Galactic, another Virgin Group subsidiary, before a separate entity - Virgin Orbit - was formed in 2017 to complete development and operate the launch service provider business separately from the passenger-carrying Virgin Galactic business. The rocket was carried to the upper atmosphere on a modified Boeing 747-400, named Cosmic Girl, and released over ocean. ![]() ![]() It was an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat payloads of up to 300 kg (660 lb) into Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. LauncherOne was a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that had operational flights from 2021 to 2023, after being in development from 2007 to 2020.
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