Robust demand from the growing small satellite market has led Virgin Galactic to significantly increase the performance of its Launcher One satellite launch service, the company announced today at the annual World Business Satellite Week in Paris.
Driven by strong commercial demand for a launch service that can reliably, affordable, and responsively launch small satellites, Virgin Galactic has nearly doubled the amount of payload that customers can deliver to orbit for the same price.
For a price below US $10 million, Launcher One will now be able to launch 200 kg into the standard Sun-Synchronous Orbit most commonly desired by small satellite missions, a marked increase from the system’s originally projected performance to that orbit. Customers will also be able to purchase further increases in performance to the same orbit, as well as launches that reach other altitudes or inclinations. To lower LEO orbits, the system will be capable of launching over 400kg of payload.
As an air-launched system, Launcher One can optimize each mission to customer requirements by operating from any of a variety of launch sites independent from the fixed, often congested, launch ranges and corresponding real-time launch constraints such as weather. Virgin Galactic is in the final stages of acquiring a commercial aircraft to add to its air launch fleet, which includes White KnightTwo, enabling both the increased payload capacity and significantly higher flight rate.
News & Image Source: Internet