The first horizontal satellite launch from UK soil is set to blast off from Cornwall this year, with a launch window planned in January after some delays.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit is set to launch its next satellite from Cornwall following a successful mission in California, the Government said.
It is a huge moment for Spaceport Cornwall and has been years in the making.
We are taking a look at what the space launch means and how it works ahead of the pioneering event.
What exactly is the space launch?
Virgin Orbit will launch its next satellite from Cornwall in what will be a UK first.
In basic terms, Virgin Orbit’s rocket - Launcher One - will take off horizontally, carried on the wing of a modified Boeing 747 aircraft named Cosmic Girl.
Carried on the rocket will be small clusters of shoe-box sized satellites. The rocket will be released at around 35,000 feet for onward flight into space, carrying the satellites into Earth orbit.
In the cockpit will be Squadron Leader Mathew ‘Stanny’ Stannard, an RAF Test Pilot serving on industrial placement as one of Virgin Orbit’s pilots.
Virgin Orbit says that the horizontal launch method allows it to conduct low cost missions quickly and efficiently by bypassing heavily trafficked established launch ranges.
The Cornwall Spaceport, at Newquay Airport Cornwall, has been selected as a proposed spaceport for horizontal launches - rather than vertical launches that we are used to seeing on the TV - because it has one of the longest runways in the UK at 2, 744m uncongested airspace and proximity to the sea.
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What are the satellites for?
On board will be a number of national and international satellites for weather, earth observation and reconnaissance for the Ministry Of Defence, the Sultanate of Oman's first satellite, the first Welsh-manufactured satellite by start-up Space Forge, Satellite Applications Catapult and Horizon Technologies, DSTL and US National Reconnaissance Office.
Has this been done before?
This is a first for the UK but it has been done before.
Virgin Orbit has completed four missions since beginning operations in 2021.
The other missions have launched from Mojave Air and Spaceport in California, including the Straight Up mission in June.
The team in Cornwall mirrored Virgin Orbit experts in real-time for the Straight Up mission to practice for their own launch.
When will it happen?
There had been some hopes that the UK launch would happen in the Summer of 2021 after a successful launch in the USA by partner Virgin Orbit
But it was re-scheduled to go ahead for the Queen's Jubilee year - 2022 with a launch window in December, but there were delays in CAA certification.
It is now due to take place during a launch window starting on Monday, January 9, 2023.
Who's involved?
Virgin Orbit and European in-space manufacturing tech start-up Space Forge signed an agreement to launch the first Welsh satellite on the mission.
The satellite will be launched as part of a broader joint UK-US mission to open the country’s first domestic space port at from Spaceport Cornwall.
Spaceport Cornwall was first unveiled as a contender for horizontal satellite launches and in 2018, a partnership agreement was signed between Virgin Orbit and Cornwall Council for the mission.
Spaceport Cornwall is a partnership between Cornwall Council, commercial launch operator Virgin Orbit and Goonhilly Earth Station.
The consortium has been set up to deliver small satellite launch into lower Earth Orbit and is funded by the UK Space Agency, Cornwall Council, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership and Virgin Orbit.
What does it mean for Cornwall?
Back in 2014, the UK Space Agency announced its intention to have spaceports dotted around the country and Newquay became a designated site for horizontal launches with places like Shetlands or the Scottish Western Isles becoming vertical launch sites.
For Spaceport Chief Executive Melissa Thorpe, the aim is to see not just the launch but the manufacturing of rockets come to Cornwall.
“For us it’s about having an end-to-end approach to the whole space sector", she said in this interview.
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From satellite assembly, design and programming, to manufacturing or big data analysis, Spaceport Cornwall’s aim is to create 150 jobs by 2025 and another 240 in the supply chain.
The public sector organisation believes the spaceport facility could generate £250m into Cornwall’s economy. Already it has helped generate more than £2m in research and development in the space, aerospace and data sectors in the Duchy.
The UK’s space sector has estimated annual revenues of £13.7 billion and employs 38,500 people. It has been growing at 8% a year over the last decade, four times as fast as the rest of the UK economy.
