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Virgin Orbit Achieves... Orbit

Everything that is sub-orbital or beyond.
 

ShanwickOceanic (netAirspace FAA) 18 Jan 21, 16:07Post
Sir Richard Branson's rocket company Virgin Orbit has succeeded in putting its first satellites in space.

Ten payloads in total were lofted on the same rocket, which was launched from under the wing of one of the entrepreneur's old 747 jumbos.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55699262
My friend and I applied for airline jobs in Australia, but they didn't Qantas.
DXing 23 Jan 21, 13:40Post
Anyone else notice the flapjack fairing missing on the left inboard side in the last picture in the article? I assume that was to make room for the rockets fins. I know there is an MEL fuel burn penalty associated with that. Wouldn't make a difference on such a short flight but I wonder if Virgin got engineering specs from Boeing and then an FAA sign off to give them relief from the MEL? Or do they just apply the burn penalty to every flight?
What's the point of an open door policy if inside the open door sits a closed mind?
JacobCooper 19 Mar 21, 10:04Post
The launching system Virgin Orbit implemented is what made me interested in this company. I used to think that it's impossible to use planes for launching satellites into space, but the success of this company proved I'm wrong. I'm glad that NASA started cooperation with Virgin Orbit, this company has a big future.
Ethan13 22 Mar 21, 19:53Post
I thought it was six months ago. Is NASA collaborating with them? Although, NASA is now cooperating with everyone.
captoveur 23 Mar 21, 14:21Post
JacobCooper wrote:The launching system Virgin Orbit implemented is what made me interested in this company. I used to think that it's impossible to use planes for launching satellites into space, but the success of this company proved I'm wrong. I'm glad that NASA started cooperation with Virgin Orbit, this company has a big future.


The launching from an airplane thing was toyed with for a long time by the air force, they just found it was a solution that caused more problems than it solved. I am kind of surprised Virgin went that route.
I like my coffee how I like my women: Black, bitter, and preferably fair trade.
Ethan13 23 Mar 21, 17:05Post
Virgin Orbit has a lot of interesting ideas. But it seems to me that space companies that are built from scratch are more likely to create something that works every time. Of course, maybe we need to have alternative ways to launch satellites. But I do not think that this type of launches can be used as the main one.
 

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