Virgin satellite launch fails – Failed to reach orbit due to ‘anomaly’

The first attempt is considered unsuccessful launching a satellite from western Europe which took place in the early hours of Tuesday (10/1). Virgin Orbit reported an “anomaly” that did not allow the rocket of reaching the height of its planned orbit.

The mission took off from the coastal city of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin’s LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 and later released over the Atlantic Ocean.

“It appears that we have an anomaly that prevented us from reaching orbit height,” the company noted. “We are evaluating the information,” he added.

The apparent failure deals a further blow to European space ambitions, following the failure of an Italian Vega-C rocket launch from French Guiana in late December.

Missiles of the same type have since been grounded.

Virgin Orbit, part-owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, has planned to deploy nine small satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) in its first mission outside its US base.

Officials responsible for the launch were not available for further comment. The company had earlier tweeted that the LauncherOne rocket had reached Earth orbit, a post that was later retracted.

The carrier aircraft codenamed “Cosmic Girl” returned to the Newquay spaceport shortly after the anomaly was detected in the rocket it had earlier released from its carrier on the modified wing of the plane.

“Over the next few days there will be an investigation by the government, but also by other agencies, including Virgin Orbit,” Matt Archer, director of commercial space missions at the British Space Agency, said.

The mission failure will be the second in Virgin Orbit’s history since the first launch in 2020. The company has recorded four successful missions.

According to Archer, the first burn stage carried the rocket into space, while the second stage had “a technical anomaly and did not reach the required orbital height.”

It was not clear how the failure, which should be investigated, would affect the timing or location of future missions. Virgin Orbit chief executive Dan Hart told reporters on Sunday that the company hoped to return to Newquay before the end of 2023.

THE Britain has announced it is the leader in satellite production outside the US, with 47,000 people working in its space industry, and has called for the development of potentially multiple micro-launch sites, including two vertical launch platforms in Scotland.

The British Space Agency, as reported by the Athens News Agency, had described this mission as a moment of national pride for the country’s developing space industry, while the British Minister for Science, George Freeman, declared at the mentioned space station that it was a “historic dot”.

“Many things have been achieved, but this important milestone is obviously disappointing” Archer stated. “But we’ll keep pushing and we’ll get there in the end,” he noted.