Virgin Orbit - Cosmic Girl hopes to air launch by Y/E

[NikeWings]

Richard Branson starting a new venture dedicated to launching small satellites into space

 

[Grendal]

Virgin Galactic has been thinking along these same lines for years. The White Knight plane flies to 50,000 feet and can drop a 37,000 lb. payload from that height. It effectively means you can save a lot of fuel since your booster can be a single stage to orbit missile. It can only handle very small satellites though due to weight limitations.

 

[HVM]

Hybrid rockets don't scale, and liquid fueled rocket needs support which are extremely hard and complex to build in to the carrier plane, or hazardous/toxic hypergolics. Example OrbitalATK's Pegasus uses solids. I don't know how Virgin Orbit going to make LOX/RP-1 work for this.

..It effectively means you can save a lot of fuel since your booster can be a single stage to orbit missile

Pegasus have 3-4 stages + Plane. LauncherOne 2 stages + Plane.

 

[e-FTW]

ULA's Vulcan replacement for the Atlas is delayed another year to 2021.
Rocket Report: SpaceX nabs another contract, Vector cashes in, Vulcan delay

I saw Virgin Orbit's “Cosmic Girl” when flying out of LBA this fall. Pretty cool to see it there. And a 747 of any kind is always a sight to behold!
That system does have the advantage of being able to take off in less than ideal weather. Gives it less of a chance of weather delays.

 

[e-FTW]

I saw Virgin Orbit's “Cosmic Girl” when flying out of LBA this fall. Pretty cool to see it there. And a 747 of any kind is always a sight to behold!
That system does have the advantage of being able to take off in less than ideal weather. Gives it less of a chance of weather delays.

I mean, just look at it! Beauty!
Virgin Atlantic on Twitter

Also, here she is doing a take-off abort test: Virgin Orbit on Twitter

I know this is off topic. Feel free to punt to another thread.