Earlier today at around 11:45 AM EDT, Virgin Orbit successfully launched its first commercial satellites from their LauncherOne rocket, which blasted off from beneath the wing of a Boeing 747. TechCrunch reports: On board, Virgin Orbit carried seven payloads, including the first-ever defense satellite for the Netherlands, as well as cubsats developed by the U.S. Department of Defense for its Rapid Agile Launch initiative. The initiative is seeking to test the viability of flying small spacecraft to space on relatively short notice on launch platforms with increased flexibility, which Virgin Orbit’s provides thanks to its ability to take off horizontally from more or less conventional runways. Virgin Orbit also carried two Earth observation satellites for Polish startup SatRevolution, and it will be delivering more in future flights to help build out that company’s planned 14-spacecraft constellation.

In January, Virgin Orbit completed its final demonstration mission, reaching orbit for the first time with LauncherOne. That paved the way for this mission, and the company plans to increase the pace and frequency of its commercial missions, with at least one more planned tentatively for later this year and many more in 2022. In terms of payload capacity, Virgin Orbit’s Launcher One can carry around 1,100 pounds to low Earth orbit, which compares favorably with the capacity of Rocket Lab’s Electron, which can carry around 661 pounds to the same destination.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Virgin Orbit Sends Its First Commercial Satellites Into Space From Air-Launched Rocket