Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#21 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Jan 10, 2023 4:55 pm

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#22 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Jan 10, 2023 4:59 pm

UK Space Agency rebuts 'white elephant' spaceport fears -2017
“Increasingly desirable” orbit access and new rocket regulations will enable the UK’s first commercial space flight services “over the next few years,” a space agency director has said.

A new £50m spaceport launch fund could turn “opportunity into a reality”, said Ross James, director of commercial space at the UK Space Agency (UKSA), after a satellite engineer told Professional Engineering the UK could be left with a “white elephant” spaceport.

Speaking to PE yesterday, the founder of satellite company ThumbSat claimed it was not clear the money would be accurately targeted. Other issues could limit the UK’s suitability for major launches, added Shaun Whitehead.

“The geographical and legal environment is not ideal in the UK for large scale flights,” he said. “There is a high risk that legal and safety issues, and a lack of tourist market, could leave us with a white elephant spaceport.”

However, James told PE that the UKSA’s ambition is for “home-grown launch markets” to help businesses access a market worth £10bn over the next 10 years. “The UK has the right geography to access increasingly desirable orbits, a thriving space industry ready to support and exploit new opportunities and world-class facilities to test, develop and deliver new satellite technology and services,” he said.

Although the UK is far from desirable orbits at the equator, the space agency said it is well placed to access valuable polar and sub-synchronous ­– gradually drifting east or west – orbits. These are popular for many new small satellite constellations planned for the next 10 years, the agency said.

Subject to an approved business case, the agency said its £50m programme will provide grant funding to build the capabilities needed for the first commercial space missions from new UK spaceports. Focusing on small satellite launch and sub-orbital flights, the money will also fund a market strategy to develop a “globally competitive spaceflight sector”.

New government regulations will also help enable a “range” of launch technologies, said James. “From vertically-launched rockets to air-launched spaceplanes and rockets, UK industry has the skills and expertise to participate in all these activities, and over the next few years we expect to see the first of these commercial launch services established in the UK.”

The most common types of flights and launches will depend on what companies use UK spaceports, the agency added. Options could also include sub-orbital spaceplanes and very high-altitude balloons.
https://www.imeche.org/news/news-articl ... port-fears
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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#23 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Jan 10, 2023 7:02 pm

Prescient article...


Meanwhile Branson faces a class action lawsuit.
What was not disclosed at the time was that Virgin Galactic’s only spaceship, VSS Unity, had been seriously damaged during a flight test on Feb. 22, 2019. A maintenance failure had led to severe damage to the ship’s horizontal stabilizer during a suborbital flight. A recent book quoted the company’s then Vice President of Safety, Todd Ericson, as saying, “The structural integrity of that entire stabilizer was compromised. I don’t know how we didn’t lose the vehicle and kill three people.”

Virgin Galactic hired a company to produce a new horizontal stabilizer made of a different material. The company was also making modifications to the passenger cabin following the February 2019 flight. All these changes would need to be tested in the remainder of the flight test program.

Virgin Galactic never disclosed the near fatal incident in any of the documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) either prior to or after going public. It only became public due to news reports that came out long after Virgin Galactic stock began trading.

Prior to going public, Virgin Galactic and Social Capital Hedosophia published a plan to complete VSS Unity‘s flight test program and begin commercial revenue flights in June 2020. However, the vehicle didn’t even make a glide flight test until May 1, 2020. The next powered flight test took place on Dec. 12, 2020; it was aborted due to a computer reboot just as the ship’s engine began to fire. It was not until May 2021 — 27 months after the near fatal flight — that VSS Unity flew suborbital again.
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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#24 Post by Pontius Navigator » Wed Jan 11, 2023 11:15 am

I see what went wrong. It is quite clear from the graphic in today's Telegraph that they got metric and imperial mixed up. The 747 clearly released its payload too low. According to the graphic release should have been at 35 kilometres but the crew probably thought it was 35 kfeet.

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#25 Post by G-CPTN » Wed Jan 11, 2023 11:55 am

It will be embarrassing if that turns out to be true.

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#26 Post by Rossian » Wed Jan 11, 2023 4:34 pm

Could an elderly 747 ever get to 35 kms?? Or was it the DT journo getting it wrong again- they do have form.

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#27 Post by llondel » Wed Jan 11, 2023 5:00 pm

Rossian wrote:
Wed Jan 11, 2023 4:34 pm
Could an elderly 747 ever get to 35 kms?? Or was it the DT journo getting it wrong again- they do have form.

The Ancient Mariner
35km is FL1115, very few aircraft can get that high and the only way you'd get a 747 up there is with rocket assist. Getting it down again in one piece might be challenging, too.

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#28 Post by Boac » Wed Jan 11, 2023 5:49 pm

Maybe forget to release the rocket?

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What a load of old bolides!

#29 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Jan 11, 2023 5:54 pm

Film of the Virgin Orbital rocket reentry!




LauncherOne's first stage came crashing back to Earth on Monday at 6:18 p.m. EST (2318 GMT). The reentry created a dramatic fireball that was captured on video from Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, by observer Ramón López(opens in new tab).

López is a collaborator with the Spanish Meteor Network (the Canary Islands are administered by Spain), which posted his video on Twitter(opens in new tab) and on YouTube(opens in new tab).

There's little doubt that the video does indeed show the final moments of the LauncherOne first stage, said Netherlands-based scientist and satellite tracker Marco Langbroek.

"The position of the sighting, sky location (low west-northwest as seen from Lanzarote) and direction of movement of the reentering object, as well as time, match well with the launch trajectory," Langbroek tweeted on Tuesday morning(opens in new tab).

https://www.space.com/virgin-orbit-rock ... ntry-video
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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#30 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Jan 11, 2023 6:17 pm

Like him or hate him, you can't ignore Doug Messier! Personally I think he writes a lot of sense.
After months of buildup about the first orbital launch of satellites from UK soil, the first launch ever from Western Europe, the beginning of a new era in British spaceflight, Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl Boeing 747 dropped the LauncherOne rocket over the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Ireland. The booster’s Newton 3 first stage engine ignited and shut down, the second stage separated and its Newton 4 engine ignited. All appeared to be nominal.

The second stage engine shut down and entered a coast phase; two more burns would follow, then the nine satellites would be deployed. With the second stage out of communication with ground control, Virgin Orbit tweeted:

LauncherOne has once again successfully reached Earth orbit! 🚀 Our mission isn’t over yet, but our congratulations to the people of the UK! This is already the first-ever orbital mission from British soil – an enormous achievement by @spacegovuk and their partners in government!

Triumph! Celebrations! The company stock starts to rise on Nasdaq in after-hours trading. Then, about 25 minutes later, Richard Branson’s launch company tweeted:

We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information.

Ooops. It wasn’t in orbit after all. The satellites wouldn’t be deployed. They had already burned up in the atmosphere.

It was amateur hour. A clear violation of the first rule of launch: never declare mission success until every payload is deployed exactly where it is supposed to go. That goes double for a publicly traded launch company whose stock can rise and fall with each flight. Virgin Orbit’s already low stock price quickly sunk to its lowest point ever.

Launches are often described as being binary: they either work, or they don’t. This is not strictly true. There’s a third category called partial failure. It’s typically when a booster gets a satellite to an orbit that is lower than planned. Large spacecraft often have enough on-board propellant to reach their intended orbits, albeit at a reduction of their useful lifetimes. Smaller satellites often lack that capability. In other words, they have thinner margins when things go awry.

Smaller rockets often operate on much thinner margins. Virgin Orbit’s launch system is a mixed bag. The first stage is a four-engine Boeing 747. The aircraft can fly safely if an engine shut down. It can even fly on only two engines under certain conditions. LauncherOne has a single engine on each stage. Although this cuts down on complexity, it also means they have to work pretty much as designed.

LauncherOne’s failure dropped the booster’s record to four successes and two failures. The first failure occurred on the maiden flight in June 2020 when a propellant line on the first stage ruptured. Current online speculation about the cause of the second failure centers on a helium leak in the second stage. Virgin Orbit has yet to make any announcement about the root cause of the failure.

Most observers shrugged off the first failure. Maiden launches often go awry, and the rocket was carrying a dummy payload. The point of a flight test is to discover what’s wrong with a vehicle. They discovered a flaw, corrected it, and then launched four times without incident.

This failure was a lot more serious. It was an operational mission. Nine satellites were lost. It was an extremely high profile launch. It was hyped for months. Confidence in the company among satellite operators and shareholders was damaged.

Unfortunately for Virgin Orbit, the failure came as the company is dealing with mounting losses and dwindling cash reserves. As the company said in its third quarter earnings report in November: (emphasis mine)

“We have not generated positive cash flows from operations or sufficient revenues to provide sufficient cash flows to enable us to finance our operations internally, and may not be able to raise sufficient capital to do so. As a result of the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations, management has determined that the liquidity condition raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.“

Virgin Orbit isn’t the only company having difficulty in finding profits launching small satellites. The most successful provider, Rocket Lab, has yet to turn a profit with its Electron booster. In fact, Peter Beck’s company is pouring money into the development of a much larger, fully reusable booster.

The failure on Monday raised questions about the more than £20 million (US $24.3 million) in taxpayers’ dollars the UK spent to bring Virgin Orbit to Cornwall. That amount included £7.35 million (US $8.9 million) paid directly to Virgin Orbit.

Whether the investment proves to be a good one depends on Virgin Orbit’s continued operation and whether future launches from Cornwall are successful. (The company is planning two flights a year from the spaceport.) Branson’s company is not the UK’s only iron in the fire. A pair of spaceports are under construction in Scotland with small launch providers scheduled to fly from them.

Everyone involved in Monday’s launch put a brave face on the failure.

“We are so incredibly proud of everything we have achieved with our partners and friends across the space industry here in the UK and in the US – we made it to space – a UK first,” said Spaceport Cornwall head Melissa Thorpe. “Unfortunately we learned that Virgin Orbit experienced an anomaly which means we didn’t achieve a successful mission. Today we inspired millions, and we will continue to look to inspire millions more. Not just with our ambition but also with our fortitude. Yes, space is hard, but we are only just getting started.”

Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart sounded a similar if somewhat off-key note.

“While we are very proud of the many things that we successfully achieved as part of this mission, we are mindful that we failed to provide our customers with the launch service they deserve. The first-time nature of this mission added layers of complexity that our team professionally managed through; however, in the end a technical failure appears to have prevented us from delivering the final orbit. We will work tirelessly to understand the nature of the failure, make corrective actions, and return to orbit as soon as we have completed a full investigation and mission assurance process.”

Prevented us from delivering the final orbit? The flight didn’t deliver any orbit. The result, in this case at least, was binary.
https://parabolicarc.com/2023/01/10/the ... more-89796
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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#31 Post by Boac » Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:01 pm

TGA wrote:as well as time, match well with the launch trajectory,
I'm struggling to see how the 'time' matches. But he (Netherlands-based scientist and satellite tracker Marco Langbroek) is, presumably, one of those 'experts'.

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#32 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:05 pm

Boac wrote:
Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:01 pm
TGA wrote:as well as time, match well with the launch trajectory,
I'm struggling to see how the 'time' matches. But he (Netherlands-based scientist and satellite tracker Marco Langbroek) is, presumably, one of those 'experts'.
I don't see an issue with the timing. The last burn ended at 23:11 UTC and the rocket whose terminal trajectory, which did not anyway match the telemetry being broadcast, appears to have re-entered the atmosphere around 23:18!

What did Boac's radar tracking show? I see they contrived to lose a US military satellite in the clutch of 9 that were incinerated. A poor show all round. I thought the coverage of the launch and confusion as to the rocket's track to be worse than amateurish.
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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#33 Post by Boac » Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:18 pm

"I don't see an issue with the timing." No, nor do I now! I'm booked into Specsavers tomorrow............
I think I was 'confused' by the 2 '23's on the timeline and saw '19:03'. Doh!

In the words of the esteemable 'Dr' BarkingMad I'm off to masticate. :))

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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#34 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:28 pm

Boac wrote:
Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:18 pm
"I don't see an issue with the timing." No, nor do I now! I'm booked into Specsavers tomorrow............
I think I was 'confused' by the 2 '23's on the timeline and saw '19:03'. Doh!

In the words of the esteemable 'Dr' BarkingMad I'm off to masticate. :))
Ah, all is explained Boac! ;)))
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Re: Flight from Cornish Space Port sometime soon?

#35 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:34 am

Six day old news but still probably the most up to date.
SEATTLE — Virgin Orbit says its first LauncherOne mission from the United Kingdom failed to reach orbit Jan. 9 when an anomaly caused a premature shutdown of the rocket’s upper stage.

In a Jan. 12 statement, Virgin Orbit provided a few new details about the failed “Start Me Up” mission from England’s Spaceport Cornwall, which attempted to place nine satellites into orbit. The failure was the first for LauncherOne since an inaugural demonstration mission in 2020.

According to the company, the initial phases of the launch, including the rocket’s deployment from its Boeing 747 aircraft and first stage burn, went as planned. The rocket’s second stage then separated and ignited its NewtonFour engine, followed by payload fairing separation.

“Later in the mission, at an altitude of approximately 180 km, the upper stage experienced an anomaly. This anomaly prematurely ended the first burn of the upper stage,” the company stated. The company did not disclose additional details about the anomaly.

Observers had speculated that some sort of issue with the upper stage caused the failure, although issues with the telemetry displayed during the launch webcast, such as spurious data, made it difficult to narrow down the nature of the problem or its timing. The company did not explain why it initially announced during the launch that the upper stage had reached orbit, a claim it retracted nearly a half-hour later.

Virgin Orbit has started a formal investigation led by Chad Foerster, its chief engineer and vice president of technology, and Jim Sponnick, a former vice president of Atlas and Delta programs at United Launch Alliance. The company did not estimate how long that investigation will take.

“Upon identifying the anomaly, our team immediately moved into a pre-planned investigation mode,” Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit, said in the statement. Given the company’s experience with the vehicle and “ample telemetry data” from the flight, “I am confident that root cause and corrective actions will be determined in an efficient and timely manner.”

Virgin Orbit said LauncherOne’s return to flight will take place from Mojave Air and Space Port in California, which had hosted all five previous missions before this launch. The rocket for that mission is going through final integration and checkout.

The company said it expects to return to Spaceport Cornwall for future launches, “and is in active discussions with key government and commercial stakeholders in the U.K. to start planning mission opportunities for as soon as later this year.” Hart, at a Jan. 8 pre-launch briefing, offered a similar timeline but with caveats. “I’m not sure that will happen, but it’s not out of the question,” he said then of a second LauncherOne mission from Cornwall before the end of the year.

A swift and successful return to flight is critical for Virgin Orbit, which was losing a significant amount of money even before the failure as it struggled to increase its launch rate. The company ended its fiscal third quarter with $71 million in cash and negative free cash flow of $52.5 million, although the company has since raised $45 million in two separate tranches from Virgin Group and its investment arm.

Shares in Virgin Orbit fell 14% on the Nasdaq exchange Jan. 10, the first day after the failure, but rebounded slightly Jan. 11. The company’s shares are still trading near its low since going public a little more than a year ago in a SPAC merger.
https://spacenews.com/virgin-orbit-blam ... er%20stage.

The word anomaly is a euphemism used to obfuscate the facts, Think of the so-called "plume anomaly" in the Challenger Shuttle disaster where the "anomaly" was in fact the egress of superheated gas through a failed o-ring configuration, which burned through the external fuel tank and caused the explosion which destroyed the vehicle. An anomaly implies something out of the ordinary, but in the Challenger case the o-ring problems, evident in almost every launch to the date of the disaster, particularly in cold weather, were well known to NASA management who had elected to fly despite warnings by the Morton Thykol team.

Whenever I hear the word "anomaly", I think of slippery weasel words saying, at best, no more than "something went wrong" which is not much new information at all.

Given the performance of the Virgin launch team and the initial declaration of success before a belated admission of mission failure I really do wonder about their telemetry and sensor set up.
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