Virgin Orbit First Mission: 7 Cubesats Launched After Recent SPAC Merger

Virgin Orbit launches seven cubesats into orbit, marking its first mission since its recent merger, dubbed "Above the Clouds."

BBC News said a Jumbo Jet flying over the Pacific Ocean launched the rocket, which carried seven satellites. It took off from Mojave Airport in California at 4:39 pm ET.

In August, the company (per The Verge) stated that it would combine with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, to go public in 2021, making it one of three tiny rocket launch businesses to do so.

Virgin Orbit Successfully Sends Off Seven Cubesats

According to another The Verge report, the LauncherOne successfully launched seven smallsats into orbit around the Earth. SatRevolution, Spire Global, and the Department of Defense are among the several satellites involved in the "Above the Clouds" initiative.

The Department of Defense's Space Test Program sent four satellites into orbit above our home planet. Meanwhile, SatRevolution, a smallsat company located in Poland, launched two cubesats. Finally, Spire Global was the owner of the seventh Virgin Orbit satellite.

According to SpaceNews, this is the third successful flight of the company's LauncherOne air-launch system.

What's unique about Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne technology is that it employs a platform that launches its primary rocket vertically, much like airplanes.

In reality, the LauncherOne system's carrier aircraft is a Boeing 747 named Cosmic Girl that was reconditioned specifically for this function.

After an hour of liftoff, Cosmic Girl launched the LauncherOne from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, putting the seven tiny satellites into orbit.

The small satellites were launched into orbit at a 45-degree angle by the Virgin Orbit rocket.

According to Virgin Orbit's president and chief executive, Dan Hart, the ability to achieve a 45-degree inclination out of the West Coast, significantly increases the utility of a launch from the West Coast.

Virgin Orbit Completes Merger With SPAC

The same SpaceNews report added that Virgin Orbit had successfully completed its merger with a special purpose acquisition corporation, or SPAC, before the end of 2021. It had begun trading on Nasdaq on December 30.

The CEO of Virgin Orbit, Hart, started his 2022 by striking the Nasdaq starting bell last January 7, according to The Verge. In addition, a full-scale model of its LauncherOne rocket was displayed in New York City's Times Square.

It should be noted that Virgin Orbit initially declared its intention to go public in August 2021.

About Rocket Rideshares

Virgin Orbit's launch coincided with SpaceX's second launch of the year, which launched a slew of tiny satellites into orbit using the company's Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Transporter-3, a SpaceX flight, carried an astounding 105 tiny satellites into orbit, deploying them one by one.

However, there are several disadvantages to using a rocket ridesharing service. For one thing, tiny satellite producers sometimes have to wait until a sufficient number of satellites are put into a single rocket before launching. There may be some logistical concerns with so many satellites being launched at once.

Virgin Orbit, for example, is a dedicated small launch provider that can customize its missions to only a few clients and, in principle, provide a faster route to the launchpad. Indeed, Virgin Orbit alleges that Spire's satellite was added to today's voyage at the last minute.

Check out more news and information on Virgin Galactic in Science Times.