Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has some big plans for the next period, as according to Fox News, the company just announced the launch of multiple satellites from a Boeing 747 aircraft.
Dubbed ‘Cosmic Girl’, the former Boeing 747-400 jet, belonging to Virgin Atlantic, will become a high-altitude satellite launch platform, using the company’s LauncherOne rocket.
A statement made by Virgin Galactic, cited by Fox News, states that the rocket will be mounted under the aircraft’s left wing.
The satellite industry is expected to grow a lot in the next years
“Air launch enables us to provide rapid, responsive service to our satellite customers on a schedule set by their business and operational needs, rather than the constraints of national launch ranges,” said Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides.
“Selecting the 747 airframe provides a dedicated platform that gives us the capacity to substantially increase our payload to orbit without increasing our prices,” he added.
Lately, Virgin Galactic has been doing everything possible to increase the performance of the LauncherOne rocket. One of the most important moves was to double the Sun-synchronous orbit payload capacity to 441 pounds. Of course, such an upgrade doesn’t come for cheap, as the whole operation had a total cost of around $10 million.
Currently, the launch system can carry a load of 882 pounds, for other orbits.
A very special project for the Virgin CEO
“The Boeing 747 has a very special place in my heart: we began service on my first airline, Virgin Atlantic, with just one leased 747,” said Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, in an official statement. “I never imagined that today one of our 747s would get a second chance and help open access to space. I’m absolutely thrilled that Cosmic Girl can stay in the Virgin family — and truly live up to her name!”
The date of the first commercial mission using the rocket wasn’t mentioned yet.
