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 orbit for less than $10 million. The company initially contemplated use of the White Knight Two aircraft that was built for the SpaceShipTwo program to drop-launch the LauncherOne rocket.
Early development focused on rocket engines for the two stages and on composite propellant tanks. By mid-2015, the development team moved into a 150,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Long Beach, California.
The group had successfully test fired its 73,500 lbf thrust “NewtonThree” first stage engine and had tested the gas generator for the 5,000 lbf “NewtonFour” second stage engine.
Both engines were pump-fed LOX/RP-1 types. Earlier pressure-fed “NewtonOne” and “NewtonTwo” engines, capable of 47,500 lbf and 3,500 lbf thrust respectively, had been prevously tested by the company, but abandoned in favor of the pump-fed designs. These engines had been developed under DARPA’s ALASA (Airborne Launch Assist Space Access) program.
Engine testing took place at Mojave, using Virgin Galactic’s “Necker” test stands. During a typical flight, the first stage engine would fire for about three minutes. The second stage engine would perform multiple burns for a total of nearly six minutes.
The decision to go with pump-fed engines, combined with a decision to bypass White Knite in favor of a larger aircraft, increased payload to 200 kg by mid-2015.
LauncherOne Cutaway Illustration
On 25 June 2015, Virgin Galactic won a contract to orbit 39 satellites for OneWeb Limited. On October 14, 2015, Virgin Galactic won a NASA Venture Class Launch Services program contract for a single launch that would carry about one dozen microsatellites to orbit. The company also won a contract from Sky and Space Global.
LauncherOne’s filament-wound composite cryogenic oxidizer tanks were cutting-edge. Composite tanks of this type had never flown on orbital missions. The LOX tanks would be coated with spray-on foam insulation to minimize LOX boiloff during the ferry phase to the drop zone. First stage diameter was 72 inches. The second stage was 50 inches in diameter. The 50 inch diameter payload fairing offered about 12 feet of internal length.
On December 3, 2015, the company announced that a 747-400 aircraft named “Cosmic Girl” would be used to drop-launch the LauncherOne rocket from 35,000 foot altitudes. The 747 had previously flown for Virgin Atlantic.
Modifications of the 747 began to allow it to carry LauncherOne on a new pylon under its port wing, inboard of the engines, and to provide updated communications systems to allow it to serve as a “flying launch site”.
In March, 2017, Virgin Galactic announced that it was forming a new company, Virgin Orbit, to handle the LauncherOne program. The company would be led by President Dan Hart, previously Vice President of Boeing Government Satellite Systems.
By early 2017, LauncherOne performance was listed at 300 kg to a 500 km sun synchronous orbit or 500 kg to a 200 km x 28.5 deg low earth orbit. Virgin Orbit was planning for initial operations to be based in Mojave, California.
There, a Level 8 clean room payload integration facility was located at the “Final Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar” (FAITH) that also served Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo program. Plans called for Cosmic Girl to ferry LauncherOne and payload to launch sites on the east or west coasts.
Also read: Kuaizhou 11 Data Sheet
Vehicle Configurations
| LEO Payload (metric tons) [1] 200 km x 28.5 deg [2] 500 km x 98.6 deg | Configuration | LIftoff Height (meters) | Liftoff Mass (metric tons) | |
| LauncherOne | 0.500 t [1] 0.300 t [2] | 747-400 “Cosmic Girl” ” Stg 1 (NewtonThree) + Stg 2 (NewtonFour) + PLF | m | t |
* LEO: Low Earth Orbit
Vehicle Components
| Stg 1 | Stg 2 | Payload Fairing | |
| Diameter (m) | 1.623 m | 1.27 m | 1.27 m |
| Length (m) | m | m | ~4 m |
| Propellant Mass (tonnes) | t | t | |
| Empty Mass (tonnes) | t | t | |
| Total Mass (tonnes) | t | t | t |
| Engine | 1 x NewtonThree | 1 x NewtonFour | |
| Engine Mfgr | Virgin Orbit | Virgin Orbit | |
| Fuel | Kerosene | Kerosene | |
| Oxidizer | LOX | LOX | |
| Thrust (SL tons) | 33.339 t | ||
| Thrust (Vac tons) | t avg | 2.27 t | |
| ISP (SL sec) | – | – | |
| ISP (Vac sec) | s | s | |
| Burn Time (sec) | ~180 sec | ~360 sec | |
| No. Engines | 9 | 1 |
LauncherOne Launch Log
LAUNCHERONE ORBITAL SPACE LAUNCH LOG DATE VEHICLE ID PAYLOAD MASS(t) SITE* ORBIT* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NN/NN/NN LauncherOne 01 NNNN NNN NN LEO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Site Code: VA = Vandenberg AFB, California WI = Wallops Island, Virginia CC = Cape Canaveral, Florida Orbit Code: EEO/M = Molynia (12-hr) Elliptical Earth Orbit FTO = Failed to Orbit FSO = Failed Suborbital GTO = Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit GTO+ = Supersynchronous or High Perigee Transfer Orbit GTO- = Subsynchronous Transfer Orbit GTOi = Inclined GTO GEO = Geosynchronous Orbit HCO = Heliocentric (solar) Orbit HTO = High Earth Transfer Orbit LEO = Low Earth Orbit LEO/S = Sun Synchronous Low Earth Orbit LEO/P = Polar Low Earth Orbit MEO = Medium Earth Orbit MTO = Medium Earth Transfer Orbit SUB = Suborbital xxx
