The Virgin Orbit company failed to send a rocket from the territory of the United Kingdom. It was to be a first. The rocket, instead of starting from the ground, was launched from an aircraft in flight.
It was to be a great first for the United Kingdom: the launch of a rocket from British soil on Monday, January 9, 2023. Unfortunately, the attempt which was to be historic went wrong for the company Virgin Orbit. Its mission was to send nine satellites into space. None were able to reach the expected orbit, turning the mission into a failure.
An anomaly detected in mid-flight
It is really in the last sequences that the mission, nicknamed Start Me Up in reference to a song by the Rolling Stones, no longer complied with the flight plan. All we know at this point, is that an “anomaly” has been detected in the system, when the second stage of the rocket engine fired. The nature of the failure remains to be clarified.
All the other phases had gone well. The plane carrying the rocket – a Boeing 747 – took off from Newquay Cornwall Airport, in the far south-west of England. It was then past 11 p.m. Then, the aircraft positioned itself at the required altitude, as well as in the designated geographical area to release the rocket.
Unlike the vast majority of companies in the sector, which opt for a vertical take-off using a rocket located on the ground (like SpaceX or Arianespace, for example), Virgin Orbit has opted for a departure from horizontal: the LauncherOne rocket is fixed under the wing of an aircraft, which is specially adapted for this kind of operation.
The role of the plane is to transport LauncherOne to the indicated place, to drop the rocket, which then turns on its propulsion to complete its ascent into space itself, by reorienting itself, to then transport its cargo into orbit. This is a solution that is intended to be simpler, because an ordinary airport can suffice. No need for a whole launch site, like the Guiana Space Center.
For a time, relative confusion reigned over the situation of LauncherOne, as evidenced by the successive messages published on Twitter by the company.
” It seems that an anomaly prevented us from reaching our orbit. We evaluate information », first wrote the group. Then shortly after, another tweet added : “ As we know more, we are retiring our previous tweet about reaching orbit. We will share more information when we can. »
” It seems that an anomaly prevented us from reaching our orbit. »
Virgin Orbit
The nine satellites were to pursue various missions on behalf of several customers. Among them are American and British government structures, such as the Ministry of Defense across the Channel, the United States Naval Research Laboratory or the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which specializes in satellite intelligence.
The geographical location of Europe makes the continent unsuitable for rocket launches – proof is with France, which launches European launchers from South America. There are however some bases, in particular for missions placed in a polar orbit (that is to say whose trajectory is perpendicular to the equator, passing through the two poles).
In addition to Newquay Cornwall airport in the United Kingdom, we can mention two other spaceports across the Channel, with the bases of Sutherlands and SaxaVord. In Europe, there are also two structures in the north of the Scandinavian peninsula, with Andøya in Norway and Esrange in Sweden. Some are experiencing a resurgence of activity and interest.
