Virgin Orbit: scientists hope Britain can put satellite into orbit after failed rocket launch as Scotland advances

A small Scottish start-up can now beat Virgin Orbit in the battle to launch the first satellite from UK soil and is preparing to launch this year.

Virgin launched the rocket from an Existence 747 aircraft that took off from Cornwall on Monday, but the satellites were unable to reach orbit due to an “anomaly” yet to be identified, meaning the mission ultimately failed.

This paves the way for fledgling Moray rocket maker Orbex to take over the British orbital crown.

said Orbex CEO Chris Larmor I Virgin’s setback notwithstanding, he hopes for a successful launch from Scotland’s new Sutherland launch site in 2023.

Construction of the launch pad for the rocket, known as Prime, will begin in the coming weeks and is expected to be completed between July and September.

However, Mr Larmour warned that “there are so many dependencies” that he could easily slip through, though it’s possible that Virgin will have another successful launch first, he stressed.

When asked if Virgin’s failure put him off, he replied, “No. You should expect these things to go wrong from time to time. It’s almost part of the game.

“This is a very complex machine with incredibly high speeds, and it needs to be controlled with the utmost precision. Even the best throwers fail sometimes.”

While the chance to get the first rocket into orbit is certainly impressive, Mr. Larmor isn’t counting his chickens.

“You don’t like to see failures. A lot of energy, time and money goes into implementing a market entry. And there is a lot of solidarity in the booster industry: when something goes wrong, people regret what can happen to any company. So people are usually not very critical,” he said.

Virgin declined to say when it would make its next space launch attempt in the UK, or if it would be this year.

“We will work tirelessly to understand the nature of the failure, take corrective action and return to space once we have completed a full investigation and mission assurance process,” said Dan Hart, CEO of Virgin Orbit.

Matt Archer, director of commercial space at the UK Space Agency, added: “We will be working closely with Virgin Orbit to investigate the cause of the anomaly in the coming days and weeks.”

Professor Paul Febvre, who helped build the Virgin launch site in Cornwall, stressed that the failure in no way dampened Britain’s hopes of becoming a major satellite launch site.

“I’m clearly disappointed, but this is a blow, not a crushing blow,” he said. I.

“This is not a death blow to British strategy, it just highlights the need for us to persevere. He will eventually return from Cornwall, there is no doubt about that. But we need to recover satellites and prepare for launch.”

Professor Febvre is the Chief Technology Officer of Satellite Applications Catapult, a government organization dedicated to promoting innovation in the aerospace industry. It would have kept two satellites running during the launch of Virgin Orbit had it been successful.

He is also a visiting professor at the Bradford-Renduchintal Center for Space AI at the University of Bradford.

Professor Fabvre points out that the same booster used on Monday night had previously been used successfully for four successive launches in the US.

He says there’s no reason why it couldn’t work in the UK as well, as problems only started after the mission went into space.

And he adds that the problem is in the “statistical element”, which can manifest itself anywhere. Other experts agree with his basic contention that there is no reason why a UK launch couldn’t work.

In addition, the most difficult part of the mission, which requires the rocket to withstand extreme turbulence as it approaches space, has been successfully completed, he says.

“It was almost there, in the moustache. It was in space, flying at great speed, when something happened.

“I would say that they have covered 90 to 95 percent of the way. We all breathed a sigh of relief, we thought it was there. It was the final touch, this final push, that it took to get into a circular orbit and give it a beautiful orbit shape, ”he said.

US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and California-based satellite launcher ABL Space Systems are also bidding for a joint launch from SaxaVord in Shetland.

The companies said last summer they were hoping for a launch in 2023, but did not respond to a request for an upgrade on Tuesday.

Scientists not involved in the Virgin Orbit project were convinced that, despite the setback, the UK could still become a leading player in the space industry.

Christina Tamane of the University of Edinburgh, co-chair of the Environmental Task Force at Space Scotland, said: “We are confident that launching satellites into orbit around the British Isles will soon become a regular and successful event. will be. “

Peter Shaw, lecturer in aerospace at Kingston University, added: “How difficult this is for Virgin Orbit really depends on how key investors react, how risk averse they are, and the company’s relationship with them. .

“How big a setback this failed launch will be for the UK ambition to become a major player in the space industry, it’s most likely just an upsurge.”

Lucinda King, head of space projects at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravity, said: “While launch failures are frustrating, the sad fact is that spaceflight is difficult and launches often fail. Participating engineers will learn from this and we are still one step closer to launching in the UK than yesterday morning.

Matt Archer, director of commercial aerospace for the UK space agency, said he still believes the UK has won Monday night’s race to send a rocket into space from European soil.

Speaking to reporters at Newquay Cornwall Airport on Tuesday, Mr Archer said: “We took off. We know that not everything was successful, but it was a start. We went into space, but did not enter the correct orbit. [Was it a] Mission failed? Yes. Have we reached the first launch? Yes, we have it. This is partly what we were looking for, but of course we would like to deploy nine satellites last night.”

Now the accident investigation team will try to figure out what went wrong on launch.
The study, which uses data from the Gunhilly earth station in Cornwall, is being conducted by the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority.