Virgin Galactic, part of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, began development of its LauncherOne system in mid-2012, after preliminary study of the idea beginning in 2007. The company's initial goal was to be able to boost 120 kg to sun sychronous low earth. LauncherOne was announced in 2012, with the program evolving since that time. In 2015, Virgin Galactic announced a larger LauncherOne service that more than doubled the previous payload performance utilizing upgraded first and second stage engines, along with a change of the carrier aircraft from the WhiteKnightTwo to the 747400. LauncherOne is Virgin Orbit’s two-stage launch vehicle for delivering small satellites into low earth orbit. To reduce costs and increase launch location flexibility, LauncherOne is designed to be air-dropped from a 747-400 carrier aircraft in flight. Each mission will entail.
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Payload fairing
- Standard clamshell design
- 300-500kg — typical mass of satellites we deliver to orbit
- 35,000 ft — typical altitude at which we release the rocket from the pylon
NewtonFour
- Second stage engine
- 6 min run time over multiple burns
- 5,000 lbf
- 17,500 mph — typical max speed
LauncherOne
Virgin Galactic Rocket Launch Today
- ~70 ft in length
- ~57,000 lbs takeoff weight, payload included
- Two stage expendable rocket
All Carbon Structures
- All-carbon composite design, including linerless tanks, minimizes mass
- Composite components built in house, giving us full control over production quantity and timing
NewtonThree
- First stage engine
- 3 min run time
- ~75,000 lbf
- 8,000 mph – typical max speed
LauncherOne
Payload fairing
- Standard clamshell design
- 300-500kg — typical mass of satellites we deliver to orbit
- 35,000 ft — typical altitude at which we release the rocket from the pylon
NewtonFour
- Second stage engine
- 6 min run time over multiple burns
- 5,000 lbf
- 17,500 mph — typical max speed
LauncherOne
- ~70 ft in length
- ~57,000 lbs takeoff weight, payload included
- Two stage expendable rocket
All Carbon Structures
- All-carbon composite design, including linerless tanks, minimizes mass
- Composite components built in house, giving us full control over production quantity and timing
NewtonThree
- First stage engine
- 3 min run time
- ~75,000 lbf
- 8,000 mph – typical max speed
1 Pilot, 1 Co-Pilot
One pilot, one co-pilot, three flight engineers on-board for a standard mission.
Custom 747
Our customized 747-400 is the world’s most reusable launch stage and requires minimal maintenance.
The Virgin Way
Designed and built in-house, the pylon can carry up to 85,000 lbs.
Ready for Launch
Launcherone Schedule
Air launch gives LauncherOne a performance boost, igniting at Mach 0.9 and above 2/3 of the atmosphere.
One pilot, one co-pilot, three flight engineers on-board for a standard mission.
Our customized 747-400 is the world’s most reusable launch stage and requires minimal maintenance.
Launcherone Stp-27vp
Launcherone Virgin Orbit
Designed and built in-house, the pylon can carry up to 85,000 lbs.
Air launch gives LauncherOne a performance boost, igniting at Mach 0.9 and above 2/3 of the atmosphere.
Virgin Orbit Launch Schedule
The key to Virgin Orbit’s high rate of production is our vertically oriented approach combined with the close proximity of our engineering, manufacturing and payload processing operations. Centralizing our operations in Southern California has allowed us to dramatically reduce testing and development cycles relative to industry averages.
Thanks to a partnership with DMG Mori, Virgin Orbit is the proud owner of one of the first hybrid additive-subtractive manufacturing machines in the world. This revolutionary technology saves us months in production cycles, reducing the time to craft an engine thrust nozzle by an order of magnitude.
Cosmic Girl can take off from thousands of airports, but any rocket, even an air-launched one, has to meet rigorous safety standards. Our fully automated flight safety truly unlocks the flexibility only an air-launched system can deliver, as it allows us to safely expand our portfolio of launch locations.
LauncherOne with B747-400 [Virgin Galactic]
LauncherOne [Virgin Galactic]
Virgin Galactic, later spun off as Virgin Orbit, announced in July 2012 the design of its new LauncherOne (L1) air-launched space launch system.
Launcherone News
LauncherOne is an expendable, two stage rocket with liquid RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants . The first stage is powered by the Newton-3 engine. The second stage, featuring the Newton-1 engine, is reignitable for orbit insertion. Payloads will be accommodated within a fairing approximately 1 meter in diameter, with a cylindrical shape for the first 77 cm and a conical section above.
LauncherOne is being developed by The Spaceship Company (TSC) of Mojave. TSC is a partnership of Virgin Galactic and Mojave, Calif.-based Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. The stages and shroud, including structures, engines, and Launch Vehicle/Pylon Interface, will be manufactured at TSC’s FAITH production facility. Other components, such as avionics and secondary subsystems will be delivered to the production facility by world-class suppliers.
After lift-off with the carrier aircraft, LauncherOne will be released from the airplane at an altitude of approximately 15 km above mean sea level. LauncherOne will free fall for approximately four seconds before the first stage ignites. The two stages operate in sequence, with the potential for the second stage to relight, and the payload is delivered to a designated low-earth orbit.
Originally it was to use the same WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) mother ship as the crewed suborbital SpaceShipTwo. Sometimes in 2014, the concept was scaled up for increased performance, using the larger NewtonThree and NewtonFour engines and a Boeing 747-400 carrier plane called 'Cosmic Girl' replacing the smaller WhiteKnightTwo.
A maiden launch is planned for 2017. Initially, LauncherOne missions will be staged from Mojave Spaceport. Virgin Orbit has completed launch assessments the primary launch site of the Mojave Air and Spaceport (MHV) in California and for a variety of operating locations including the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in Virginia. Virgin Orbit is prepared to obtain approvals to operate in locations other than Mojave based on customer interest. Newquay airport, Cornwall, in the UK is also planned as a launchsite. Guam has been selected as a launch base for low-inclination orbits. Virgin Orbit is also assessing launch operations at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport in Hawaii and the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico.