The modified 737 “Cosmic Girl” took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California carrying a LauncherOne rocket on June 30, 2021.
Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit is assembling a fleet of modified 747 jets, the company announced Tuesday, ordering two new modified cargo airframes to help launch more rockets into space.
The company is acquiring two additional airframes through L3Harris, which will modify the jets to carry and launch Virgin Orbit’s rockets. Virgin is expected to take delivery of its first plane next year.
Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said delivery times for the second plane would be “driven more by market demand” for the launches. The deal “liberates us in a number of ways,” he said. “It removes one of the key bottlenecks that we have in the system,” Hart told CNBC.
It will also help the company continue to launch in the event one of its planes is under maintenance, which will open up “all sorts of possibilities to support different customers in different places.” , he added.
Virgin Orbit has a single plane, a custom one Boeing The 747-400, known as “Cosmic Girl,” has performed four Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket missions to date. Through a method known as aerial launch, the company’s planes bring their rockets to an altitude of about 45,000 feet and bring them down just before they start up and accelerate into space – a method that The company claims to be more flexible than ground-based systems.
Hart declined to disclose financial details of the deal with L3Harris, but noted that the upfront cost of a 747 airframe was “in the single-digit millions”.
Virgin Orbit’s new 747s will also feature an improved layout, with L3Harris modifying the aircraft to carry up to two LauncherOne rockets, as well as all of the company’s ground-support equipment, to one launch pad.
“The ability to deploy two missiles and all the ground equipment in one plane, fly it somewhere, set it up, and suddenly you have a launch pad somewhere is quite unique, ‘ said Hart. “It adds a certain degree of unpredictability to the national security community [and] which is better economics for space sports. “
Virgin Orbit went public through SPAC in December. The company’s stock is down about 44% from its launch on Monday, at $4.51 per share.
Coming soon in the UK
Virgin Orbit’s modified 747 jet “Cosmic Girl” launches the company’s LauncherOne rocket for a mission on January 13, 2022.
Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit’s next scheduled mission is for the Pentagon. It will carry seven government satellites, scheduled for no earlier than June 29.
Next, the company is expected to launch its first international mission, departing from Cornwall in the United Kingdom. In preparation for that mission, scheduled for the third quarter of this year, Hart said the company will conduct a full-fledged Cornwall rocket wet drill at the company’s current base of operations at the Airport. and the Mojave Universe in California, prior to flight. Cosmic Girl and shipping her gear to the UK
The addition of aircraft gives Virgin Orbit the flexibility to serve international needs. Outside the US, the company currently has launch agreements with the UK, Japan and Brazil, as well as memorandums of understanding with Poland and Oman.
“We are also discussing in the order of half a dozen other countries,” said Hart.
Virgin Orbit is also looking at governments that own the 747, with the company providing launch services to countries. “It’s the best economic way,” says Hart, because the logistics are pretty straightforward, and that’s what we’re aiming for.
