Air-Launched Rocket Suffers Anomaly During 2nd Stage Burn, Missing Orbital Delivery

Virgin Orbit's latest launch from Spaceport Cornwall fell a little short of a successful orbital delivery thanks to a 2nd-stage anomaly that sent the payload off its intended trajectory.

The launch was much-lauded as proof positive of domestic UK satellite capability, and at the very least successfully completed enough phases of launch to merit some consolation. Virgin's customized 747 launch platform, Cosmic Girl, succeeded in taking off with the company's LauncherOne system, reaching its designated drop point high above. Cosmic Girl released the rocket from its pylon, which then ignited its 1st stage engines, quickly going hypersonic and successfully reaching space. It then continued through successful stage separation and ignition of the 2nd stage. However, at some point during the firing of the rocket’s second stage engine and with the rocket traveling more than 11,000 miles per hour. At that point, the mission ended prematurely, with the rocket experiencing an as-yet undetailed anomaly.

Virgin Orbit is keeping its chin up, though, patting itself on the back for at least reaching space. Like many launch providers, teething issues aren't too unexpected, and future partnerships are already in line for the next one. In any case, the launch proves that space operations can be achieved by the United Kingdom, gaining an invaluable position of spacefaring sovereignty within its own borders. The mission was only one of 5 LauncherOne missions to have fallen short of a precise payload delivery, retaining a record of overall success.

“While we are very proud of the many things that we successfully achieved as part of this mission, we are mindful that we failed to provide our customers with the launch service they deserve," said Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit CEO. "The first-time nature of this mission added layers of complexity that our team professionally managed through; however, in the end a technical failure appears to have prevented us from delivering the final orbit. We will work tirelessly to understand the nature of the failure, make corrective actions, and return to orbit as soon as we have completed a full investigation and mission assurance process.”

Matt Archer, Director of Commercial Spaceflight at the UK Space Agency, said the company would be spending a lot of effort to analyze the event. “While this result is disappointing, launching a spacecraft always carries significant risks. Despite this, the project has succeeded in creating a horizontal launch capability at Spaceport Cornwall, and we remain committed to becoming the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, with vertical launches planned from Scotland.”

FMI: www.virginorbit.com