LONDON–Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket failed to achieve orbit in its high-profile Start Me Up satellite launch mission from the UK on Jan. 9.
The Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl appeared to have successfully lofted the LauncherOne after flying from Spaceport Cornwall, England. But about 1 hr. 6 min. after takeoff, the company confirmed at 11:46 p.m. London time that an anomaly had prevented the rocket from reaching orbit, resulting in the loss of all nine satellites onboard.
Imagery published on Virgin Orbit’s live stream prior to the announcement showed the rocket’s Newton 3 first stage executing the initial burn after its release from the aircraft at 11:09 p.m. But telemetry data appeared to be lost at 11:15 p.m. as the rocket reached 800,000 ft. and never returned. The live stream said the Newton 4 Stage 2 engine cutoff was achieved, suggesting the anomaly may have occurred before cutoff or after and during the coasting phase of flight.
The company says it is evaluating mission data and will provide an update later.
Meanwhile, the carrier aircraft returned safely to Spaceport Cornwall at midnight London time Jan. 10.
The loss is the second failure of LauncherOne in six launches and dashes hopes for the UK to take a lead in the race to be Europe’s gateway to space.
The previous loss was in May 2020 during LauncherOne’s first flight. It occurred seconds after the ignition of Newton 3 and resulted in the destruction of the vehicle.
The cause of the failure was found to be a propellant line, which broke seconds after the ignition of the rocket’s first-stage engine.
The Start Me Up mission had been hailed as the UK’s entry into the league of spacefaring nations, with the mission receiving extensive support from the UK government, military and other agencies.
Among the payloads onboard were a joint UK/U.S. military experimental cube sat called CIRCE–short for Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment–and Forgestar, a Welsh-developed reusable satellite to prove in-orbit manufacturing techniques. Also onboard was AMAN, the Gulf state of Oman’s first satellite.
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