Ahead of the first launch from UK soil, Virgin Orbit’s converted Boeing 747 launch vehicle ‘Cosmic Girl’ this week touched down at Spaceport Cornwall, Cornwall Airport Newquay.
In addition, the C-17 carrying the rocket to be launched by the 747 also landed.
Huge congratulations to all involved getting us to this point. And special thanks to @99Sqn @RAFBrizeNorton for bringing @VirginOrbit Launcher One to UK.
Very excited about our first space launch from UK soil. @RoyalAirForce @UKSpaceCmd @spacegovuk
Not long now. https://t.co/4yFgELehbE
— Air Marshal Harv Smyth (@HarvSmyth) October 15, 2022
Cosmic Girl will carry seven payloads into Lower Earth Orbit from Cornwall via the LauncherOne rocket on the aptly named “Start Me Up” mission; Virgin Orbit’s first international launch.
The missions of these satellites span a wide range of activities aimed at improving life on planet Earth, including reducing the environmental impact of production, preventing illegal trafficking, smuggling, and terrorism; and a host of national security functions.
This week payloads have begun integration into Virgin Orbit’s launch system from the state-of-the-art Space Systems Integration Facility, the recent opening of which heralded a new era of capability within UK small satellite services.
Virgin Orbit has been working closely with the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Royal Air Force (RAF), and the Spaceport Cornwall team to make all necessary preparations for lift-off.
Squadron Leader Matthew Stannard, Chief Pilot, Virgin Orbit, was quoted as saying:
“It feels amazing to bring Cosmic Girl home to the UK. We are weeks away now from the first UK launch at Spaceport Cornwall so it’s all very real, I’m really excited to be here with the Virgin Orbit team.”
https://twitter.com/VirginOrbit/status/1581101415094956032
Melissa Thorpe, Head of Spaceport Cornwall welcomed Cosmic Girl to Spaceport Cornwall said:
“This is the moment we have been waiting eight years for and my team could not be more excited to welcome Cosmic Girl to the UK. A converted 747 using a converted airport to get to space is a perfect example of what we are working to achieve at Spaceport Cornwall. By making use of existing assets we want to set the bar for responsible launch – Starting Up launch in the UK with ‘Space For Good’ at its core.”
Great to be part of this, bringing Virgin Orbit’s ‘LauncherOne’ to the UK last night on a C17. Certainly one of the more different loads our excellent Air Loadmasters and the Movers have transported. https://t.co/qIv8m4M58K
— C17 UK (@C17UK) October 15, 2022
Matt Archer, Director of Commercial Spaceflight at the UK Space Agency, said:
“Watching a 747 land is always impressive, but everyone had goosebumps as Cosmic Girl touched down on the runway at Spaceport Cornwall for the first time. We are now a matter of weeks away from launch and, while the excitement is building, teams on the ground continue to work hard on the preparations. More equipment, including the rocket, will arrive in the coming days and the delicate task of integrating the satellites will begin. We have never done this before in the UK, it is a complex and technically challenging endeavour, and I’m confident in the capabilities of our partners at Virgin Orbit and Spaceport Cornwall to deliver a successful mission.”
The launch is on track for November.
The UK first launched its own satellite in 1971, but not from its own soil. Very good!
Some could argue that this is not launched from U.K. soil either due to the rocket being launched mid air.
In that case I’d argue that Apollo 11 wasn’t launched from the US as the the SIV-b didn’t fire up until they where in Space.
Apollo’s were launched from US soil by single multi-stage rockets, your argument is absurd.
No it isn’t. As I said the SIV-b didn’t fire up on US soil, and that’s what got them to the moon. Therefore Apollo 11 didn’t launch from the US.
It’s exactly the same logic as saying “Well Launcher One didn’t fire up on UK soil therefore it didn’t launch from the UK.”
If you want to count Apollo 11 as launching from the US even though only the SI-C fired on US soil then you have to count Start Me Up as launching from the UK even though only Cosmic Girl fired up her engines in the UK.
If you don’t count Cosmic Girl as part of the launch then you have to discount the SI-C as part of Apollo 11’s launch.
I am with JP here. Cosmic Girl can fly from anywhere, with an appropriately long runway and ground handling facilities. This is really just a publicity stunt to top other LEO launchers preparing to launch from the Country attached to the north of England.
Yeah “just” a publicity stunt that has been in the works for ages…
Glad you agree.
Don’t be childish.
If all goes well Orbex Prime a British built 2 stage rocket will launch a satellite from Nortnern Scotland on 31st January.
I wonder how much it costs to get the RAF to pick up and deliver a rocket? I presume it was collected from the USA?
It’s an exciting start to the U.K. space launch services. Hopefully more to follow from other sites in the U.K. Will be exciting seeing rockets blast off from northern Scotland.
Are the satellites the virgin rocket is launching benefiting from being launched in U.K area instead of state side?
UK launches provide access to orbits with a higher inclination i.e. a higher angle relative to the equator. This means they can provide coverage to higher latitudes. Launching from a 747 probably increases the flexibility as well.
Cheers CR
I wonder what the feasibility would be like to launch from ascension as well to give the UK an equatorial launch capability as well.
Delivering the payload will be a bit of a bugger but otherwise, why not?
The UK makes more small satellites than any other country. Having the launcher close to the production centre instead of having to fly the satellites to the US or India is the idea.
It’s a very good idea and I hope it works out well.
What could possibly go wrong? 🙄
Ah, that Brit positivity on full display! 👍😎
😂
Virgin Orbit is desperately short of cash. This launch is being subsidized by the British Government with funding and logistics support in order to jump start a British spaceport. Without British subsidies, Virgin Orbit would be strapped to launch from the UK. Virgin Orbit is hoping that this launch will aid it in securing additional commercial funding without which it is unlikely to survive. The competition is quite keen with many new players such as Antares and Rocket Lab.
The small sat rocket market is stacked with launchers and developing launchers. It’s going to be a tight market and we will need to see lots more people using satellites. For the companies most likely who ever can provide the cheapest ride with acceptable risk will win out.
Making cheap satellites that are disposable will also aid the launch providers.
I really hope the U.K. government keeps a rapid launch provider in the U.K. that can launch needed satellites rapidly. Say for communication back up if cables get cut. For combat areas where rapid surveillance is needed etc. When I think how much power a phone has in its size small sats have great possibilities.
All launch facilities and providers are government subsidised. The cost of this is tiny compared to what France and the US she’ll out.
That’s pretty much the entire global private space industry, so not really a valid criticism.
Even the more successful ones have only succeded due to massive government safety nets and contracts.
Not that we shoupd just give up because of that.
SpaceX is doing quite well and has prospered without government subsidies. It competed and won government launch contracts because it could do it cheaper and better than its competitors. It has a substantial commercial space business to include its own Starlink program. It built its own launch facility in Boca Chica TX and built its own launch complexes at Cape Canaveral.
My but you Brits are touchy. I stated facts about Virgin Orbital and you take it as criticism of the UK. Virgin Orbital is a public US company, listed on the NASDAQ and HQ’d in Long Beach CA.
You Musk fanboys are everywhere. It’s very tiring, as you can only stand utmost praise of Musk.
SpaceX almost went under and required the US government to offer a $500 million safety net. Further, if they hadn’t gotten the NASA ISS supply contract, they would have gone under.
Despite the Musk hype space X only exists due to US government contracts. Falcon 1 was specifically funded by USAF. NASA have poured billions in to the development of falcon 9 and now starship.
No criticism as space X have done a great job compared to ULA but it’s a fallacy to say that musk has built space X on private money alone.
The idea that space ex is prospering without government subsidies is kind of laughable tbh.
The real benefit for the U.K. is getting the tec base for domestically built two and Three stage orbital launch vehicles. Prime and the bigger skyrora XL are the first step back for the U.K. into serious orbital launch vehicles. Especially since these are commercial rockets, which is where the future is so the activity and developments around the Sutherland space hubs are for me the really important bit for the U.K. . I think the Virgin orbiter launches from Cornwall are possibly a bit more of a dog and pony show…after all what is it really giving to the British space industry, essentially it’s just a runway for virgin orbit to use, all the actual work and development is done in long beach.
The engines for the Gilmour system are being built in Preston. The guidance by a Manchester company.
Hi I think you may be thinking of the Eris rocket, but the U.K. are only supplying electric motors and inverts, not the actual engines as far as I’m aware.
little acorns my friends’ little acorns
My dad took us to Newquay but all I was going to get was a lousy T-shirt, but instead we were able to put a satallite into space.😄
How long before the nutjobs from Just Stop Oil start blocking the “Space Port”?
Why you call them “nutjobs” they are just the natural consequence of mainstream journalist of last 20 years which is supposed to be “centrist”…
I would say that they are not really nut jobs, global warming as causes buy the oil and gas industry is an existential threat to humanity’s continues existence. So may they are not the wrong headed ones.
Good Morning. Did your cat also wake you Jonathan?😀Agree they are far from ‘Nutjobs, but the tactics employed by Just Stop Oil are guaranteed to harm their cause.
Interestingly the bloody thing vomited a fur ball over the bed……then just sat there with a sort of “what” look on it’s face…sort of like the PM at the press conference the other day.
😂
I don’t disagree, I’m not a lover of stupid tactics. You don’t win by pissing people off…although the suffrage movement did just that in the end as it was the only way to get universal suffera
Haha, learn what is science first. Instead of scientism..
When you cannot explain year 1540 you cannot explain climate.
One off data points from a single year are not climate, it’s weather, 1540 was a strange year for weather. As there were no instruments we dont know what causes that weather in that year. ( there are a number of effects, from ocean, currents, sea temp, jet stream, sun.spot activity and a host of other stuff. But this is the fun bit…..it’s weather not climate.
The warming of the globe in the 20th and 21st is climate change, a constant developing trend of annual data pionts showing increased mean temperatures in both air and sea temperatures.
The fact that all credible scientific papers in peer reviewed journals agree man made climate change is happening and is an existential threat should tell you all.
just for reference my first time at Uni and my first career was as an environmental scientist, so I do know the evidence base for the last 30 years. I’ve been studying it since 1990 when I did my first degree. My subsequent Science degrees were all in healthcare and management of risk, I have four degrees in total with a combined higher education study time of 9 year of science and risk Under my belt, not including being a jobbing environmental scientist, Health care professional and manager of risk, so I know what good science looks like and what casting stones in the pond to create doubt looks like ( what the gas, oil and coal produces have done for 30 year, as they actually had all the data 30 years ago and decided on a strategy of muddying the waters with a bit of sudo science and a few pound voices in their pay so they could keep selling the oil).
In the case Planet Earth vs Homo sapiens (a segment of) and on the charge of the activities of HS threatening the life of PE, there is no doubt that segment HS is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. One can argue the detail from both sides but I would bring the action based on the self-evident and ongoing destruction of PE by HS mainly as a result of rampant unchecked population growth. From this flow all things evil. Climate change is just one of many symptoms of the disease
TOO MANY PEOPLE! We’ve said it before.
Too many people in the UK too.
Two trees have grown beautifully in my gardens since we moved to our house, and Ivy up the walls. So we are doing our bit tree wise. The Carbon thing is more difficult when one must drive to work each day and one cannot afford a hybrid or electric car yet, but small steps.
Hi Daniele. Small but critical steps-good for you! Here in Durban we have been heavily involved in many aspects of conservation including having an indigenous plant nursery. Things grow very quickly in the sub-tropics so rehabilitation is quick BUT we have one of the highest population growth rates in the world so fighting a losing battle.
Keep well my friend
Active transport and public transport do wonders in this field. Substituting a Bike for a Car is a massive step that a lot of people believe is impossible without actively examining it.
Yes indeed overgrowth is a key issue. I did read a great podcast in which it explored humanities separation from the natural world.
This individual put forward that In effect as we developed ego we saw ourselves as different from and not part of the natural world, because of this loss of connection we saw threat and scarcity everywhere. The way we cope with this perceived scarcity is to try and own things. From ownership comes competition from competition comes greater separation.
we effectively saw the natural world as a threat and competition. Trying to outcompete everything ( Darwinian theory is an expression of this belief) and separate ourselves.
in doing so we have created health issues ( mental and physical ) as well as this need to expand and grown as we no longer communicate with the natural world.
The analogue used was that humanity is now acting like a cancer cell. A cancer cell is isolated from the community of cells it lives in and so can only replicate itself until destruction of the community occurs.
This theory of isolation comes from our greater understanding of the natural world and the profound level of communication that occurs….we are literally a creation of viral and bacteria DNA and RNA exchanges inform with cells ( look up the theory of creation of mitochondrial structures in cellsI was literally viral DNA merging with a cell that created the energy potential for every life beyond that of plants). We are completely bombarded with information that shapes what it it’s to be human, including how we think, the bacterial ecosystem in our gut is fundamentally a part of who we are and can even change how we think and how long and we’ll we live ( poor gut biodiversity creates mental health issues and many physical health long term conditions).
Its fascinating stuff and very profound. Even at our basic knowledge level it’s producing stuff like RNAm vaccines.
Hi Jonathan. Thinking people such as you and I and Daniele and many others here often reach the same conclusions independently. I have long believed that man is a cancer on the face of the earth and that this planet is a living organism. The other analogies between the micro and macro are striking. The body sometimes ‘spontaneously ‘cures itself from invasive illnesses including cancer and mankind certainly has the ability to do the same in his relationship with the planet, but as with everything in the universe there is the perpetual struggle of good vs evil and I use that phrase in a very broad sense.
Thank you for indulging us for straying of topic George🙂
You forget the demographic of this site skews violently to the right on most matters.
So your side has BBC, ITV. Sky and C4 and the other side has UKDJ ? Would you be willing to swap ? PS don’t tell Mr Allison !
😁
You missed my point Joss,
Most of centrists are extremists too in other ways, but since they are the dominating opnion they can sell themselves as moderates despites the extremists and fanatical ideas they have:
Any more details on the payload? Are these some of MoDs new Small Satellite constellation?
Starlink replacement 😛
Don’t be daft man, we can’t be launching anything useful like that with out the required decade of studies and multiple four letter acronyms 😀
I believe it’s a path finder mission with five small sats from a variety of companies and even one from wales.
https://www.virgin.com/about-virgin/latest/british-built-satellite-completes-line-up-for-virgin-orbits-first-uk-launch
This is a great capability to have and the first ever satellite launch from Europe is amazing. This launcher can give us 500KG to Low earth orbit which is very useful for military payloads. With Ion propulsion it can also do interplanetary missions. The UK government should now put its money where its mouth is, supporting a domestic UK launch capability by investing in an array of SAR and EO/IR reconnaissance satellites in LO Orbit as well as space recon satellites using Ion engine capability. In addition the UK Space Agency should start its own deep space missions using small probes with Ion propulsion possibly focusing on asteroid mining or other such deep space commercial activity. Lastly we need to consider launch capability from Ascension giving us a domestic equatorial launch capability. Lastly we should consider some form of space agency along the lines of ESA with Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Great start with space port Cornwall and Saxavord but for a few quid more we could get so much more.
“investing in an array of SAR and EO/IR reconnaissance satellites”
As far as I understand it, we are. Agree on the rest.
Yes, I am hoping it all comes through as advertised but we have had so many stop starts on satellite recon since top sat in 2006 just like drones. It’s development project after development project then nothing. We have to always be aware that the kind of people in our civil service, military and political leaders in charge of these projects are often some of the worst kind of people when it comes to belief in Britain. They have been selling the country down the road for decades on the premise that “don’t worry about that, the Americans do that” so we end up with a hollow force, unable to operate independently as anything other than a bolt on to A US coalition. I think the MOD would much rather save a sacred cow or two than have a genuine independent space capability. We are so close now but like in 1971 this is normally exactly when the little gray men in suits show up and turn it all in to razor blades.
It’s just like 2010 when the tried to kill the carriers but now there is no guaranteed contract to stop them.
Given the increasing reliance/importance of ISTAR and that we are good at making these small sats, I think we’ll be ok this time.
Well we’ve had Skynet since the late 60s, very much a sacred cow, but I know what you mean.
Zircon went due to cost and the outcry about it being kept from Parliament. So in that field we write a cheque to part own or task US assets.
Agree on grey suites. It was all before I was born but read about Spadaedam and the rocket tech we could have developed further.
👍