It was a slightly desperate example of the spin-doctor’s art. “Historic UK mission reaches space, falls short of orbit,” read the press release from Virgin Orbit, a satellite-launch firm, on January 10th. The night before, in front of crowds of space enthusiasts braving the weather, a converted jumbo jet had taken off from Newquay Airport in Cornwall, in south-west England, to perform the first-ever space launch from British soil.
The first part of the mission went well. Once the plane was safely over the Atlantic ocean, a rocket detached, ignited its engine and made for the sky. But about half an hour later, Virgin Orbit released a terse statement talking of an “anomaly”. The firm later admitted that, although the rocket had technically reached space, it had not made it into orbit—and neither had any of the nine satellites it had been carrying.
It is not yet clear exactly what went wrong (other Virgin Orbit rockets have made it into orbit in the past). But the failure comes at an awkward time for the company, which hopes to carve out a niche offering cheap, small-scale launch services to the rapidly growing space industry. That market is highly contested, and Virgin Orbit’s prospects looked shaky even before the launch. (After, its share price, already down by 75% over the course of 2022, fell by 12%.)
It is also a bit of a setback for Britain’s broader ambitions in the space business. The country has plans for seven “spaceports” (this year may also see launches, by different firms, from Sutherland and the Shetland Islands). Britain’s high latitude, a drawback for some orbits, gives easier access to others; its proximity to the Atlantic means rockets can be aimed away from populated areas. Still, launching rockets, despite the glamour, is not where most of the value lies. BryceTech, a consultancy, put the value of the space business at £270bn in 2019—but the value of launch services at just $7bn. ■
Absolutely nothing Virgin is a completely American organisation
That we just keep going until it works because giving up after 1 failure is a really shitty approach?
It’s pretty sad and stupid that the “Economist” doesn’t understand how to make rockets.
Does anyone need reminding of the numerous SpaceX experiments and explosions? That ended up with two rockets taking off and landing in tandem, which is pretty impressive.
I have no idea what probability of success Virgin predicted for this mission but you can bet it wasn’t 100%.
Rocket Science has a pretty steep learning curve.
Presumably the “Economist” has an agenda here – I don’t know what it is, but regardless they come across as uneducated and unnecessarily negative.
What has gone wrong with the Economist?
Its all “UK bad” stories now, even when its a USA company, apparently. I think Brexit broke them pretty badly.
Keep going until you get it right. I would have perhaps not have had several satellites on board but I’d not heard of much in the way of successful testing prior to this ..compared to..all the space x fails and retests
6 comments
It was a slightly desperate example of the spin-doctor’s art. “Historic UK mission reaches space, falls short of orbit,” read the press release from Virgin Orbit, a satellite-launch firm, on January 10th. The night before, in front of crowds of space enthusiasts braving the weather, a converted jumbo jet had taken off from Newquay Airport in Cornwall, in south-west England, to perform the first-ever space launch from British soil.
The first part of the mission went well. Once the plane was safely over the Atlantic ocean, a rocket detached, ignited its engine and made for the sky. But about half an hour later, Virgin Orbit released a terse statement talking of an “anomaly”. The firm later admitted that, although the rocket had technically reached space, it had not made it into orbit—and neither had any of the nine satellites it had been carrying.
It is not yet clear exactly what went wrong (other Virgin Orbit rockets have made it into orbit in the past). But the failure comes at an awkward time for the company, which hopes to carve out a niche offering cheap, small-scale launch services to the rapidly growing space industry. That market is highly contested, and Virgin Orbit’s prospects looked shaky even before the launch. (After, its share price, already down by 75% over the course of 2022, fell by 12%.)
It is also a bit of a setback for Britain’s broader ambitions in the space business. The country has plans for seven “spaceports” (this year may also see launches, by different firms, from Sutherland and the Shetland Islands). Britain’s high latitude, a drawback for some orbits, gives easier access to others; its proximity to the Atlantic means rockets can be aimed away from populated areas. Still, launching rockets, despite the glamour, is not where most of the value lies. BryceTech, a consultancy, put the value of the space business at £270bn in 2019—but the value of launch services at just $7bn. ■
Absolutely nothing Virgin is a completely American organisation
That we just keep going until it works because giving up after 1 failure is a really shitty approach?
It’s pretty sad and stupid that the “Economist” doesn’t understand how to make rockets.
Does anyone need reminding of the numerous SpaceX experiments and explosions? That ended up with two rockets taking off and landing in tandem, which is pretty impressive.
I have no idea what probability of success Virgin predicted for this mission but you can bet it wasn’t 100%.
Rocket Science has a pretty steep learning curve.
Presumably the “Economist” has an agenda here – I don’t know what it is, but regardless they come across as uneducated and unnecessarily negative.
What has gone wrong with the Economist?
Its all “UK bad” stories now, even when its a USA company, apparently. I think Brexit broke them pretty badly.
Keep going until you get it right. I would have perhaps not have had several satellites on board but I’d not heard of much in the way of successful testing prior to this ..compared to..all the space x fails and retests