Richard Branson's Small-Satellite Launch Venture Fails First Test
May 25 2020 - 7:09PM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor
A company founded by entrepreneur Richard Branson to launch
small satellites botched its initial demonstration flight, as a
rocket released from a specially outfitted jumbo jet failed to
reach low-earth orbit.
Virgin Orbit's long-anticipated debut mission kicked off over
Southern California in perfect weather when a converted Boeing Co.
747 jet, named "Cosmic Girl," climbed to 35,000 feet, a slender,
70-foot rocket slung under its left wing. Everything proceeded as
planned with the red-nosed booster dropping away from the plane on
command. But within seconds, its main liquid-fueled engine, capable
of generating more than 70,000 pounds of thrust, ran into a problem
and wasn't successful in carrying the test payload to its
destination.
In follow-up messages on Twitter, the company said the main
engine roared to life, but "an anomaly then occurred early" in the
booster's trajectory, and the mission safely terminated. "Our goals
today were to work through the process of conducting a launch,
learn as much as we could, and achieve ignition," the company said.
"We hoped we could have done more, but we accomplished those key
objectives today."
Virgin Orbit officials had tamped down expectations, reminding
reporters during a prelaunch teleconference on Saturday that on
average one out of two launches of a new rocket design fail. The
flight on Monday had been delayed from last year for some rocket
modifications.
A successful flight would have provided a jolt of good news for
the global space industry; several startup rocket ventures have
lately stumbled or failed partly as a result of the Covid-19
pandemic. Some companies have been forced to shutter facilities,
and interest in prospective launch contracts has slumped, while
investments from many entrepreneurs and venture funds have dried
up.
The failed launch also amounted to a personal setback for Mr.
Branson, the high-profile British billionaire. Despite severe
strains on his world-wide business empire because of the pandemic,
he has continued to support and closely follow progress of the
fledgling launch venture, of which he is a partial owner.
Virgin Orbit, which started building rockets in Long Beach,
Calif., a few years ago and has about 500 employees, stands out
from other fledgling launch providers partly because of its novel
operating concept. The use of an airborne platform is intended to
provide maximum flexibility as far as the time and location of
launches. Customers are supposed to be able to set up satellite
delivery to specific orbits, something that typically can't be
arranged when small spacecraft piggyback rides on larger rockets
boosting larger satellites.
Mr. Branson wasn't at the Mojave Air and Space Port when the
four-engine jumbo jet lifted off. But on Saturday Dan Hart, Virgin
Orbit's CEO, joked that he hadn't heard from his boss for some 40
minutes. Mr. Branson "has guided and mentored us through the
years," Mr. Hart said, and was "always available for a phone
call."
Even with a picture-perfect launch, prospects for the company's
growth over the next few years would have seemed limited. Mr. Hart
told reporters current plans call for ramping up commercial
operations slowly, with two to four launches likely for all of
2021. Virgin Orbit initially marketed a price of $12 million for a
launch, versus roughly five times that much for larger rockets,
such as the Falcon 9 marketed by Elon Musk's Space Exploration
Technologies Corp., or SpaceX.
In the wake of the failure, Mr. Musk commented on the
disappointment. "Sorry to hear that. Orbit is hard," he said in a
message on Twitter. "Took us four attempts with Falcon 1," he
wrote, referring to the rocket that SpaceX flew before the Falcon
9.
Virgin Orbit aims to loft into low-Earth orbit satellites
weighing several hundred pounds, versus spacecraft weighing
thousands of pounds for SpaceX and European competitor Arianespace
SA.
Over the last two years, the U.S. has captured roughly 60% of
the global market for launching such larger commercial satellites
-- some rivaling the size of a pickup truck or van -- into higher
orbits. Virgin Orbit is targeting civil, military and commercial
customers at the lower end of the market and, according to Mr.
Hart, already has several hundred million dollars in contracts.
Advances in satellite design and fabrication have resulted in
steadily smaller and more capable satellites. But a number of
analysts anticipate commercial customer demand will support only
two or three small-satellite launch systems in coming years, and
U.S. military needs are still unclear.
Other companies pursuing small-satellite launches include Rocket
Lab, a U.S.-New Zealand company that has a flight-proven booster;
Blue Origin Federation LLC, established by Amazon.com Inc. founder
Jeff Bezos; and Relativity Space, which aims to manufacture a
rocket mostly from 3D-printed parts.
Virgin Orbit, which already has plans to perform launches from
Guam, seeks to exploit the small-satellite market partly because it
won't have to build or maintain any launchpads. If demand surges
and it has finished rockets in the factory ready to go, the company
envisions being able to swiftly ramp up its launch tempo by
scheduling more frequent flights of the carrier aircraft.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 25, 2020 18:54 ET (22:54 GMT)
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