Dummy pld - LauncherOne (Demo) - Mojave, Boeing 747 - 25.05.2020 19:50 UTC

[tnt22]

https://virginorbit.com/announcing-the-window-for-our-launch-demo/

Announcing the Window for Our Launch Demo

MAY 20, 2020



We are extremely excited to announce that the window for our Launch Demo mission starts on Sunday, May 24^th, and extends through Monday, May 25^th, with an opportunity to launch from 10 A.M. – 2 P.M. Pacific (17:00 – 21:00 GMT) each day.

That means that this weekend, our 747 carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl will prepare to take off from Mojave Air and Space Port, fly out over the Pacific ocean, and release our two-stage, orbital rocket, LauncherOne — which will then proceed to ignite its engine in mid-air for the first time.

This Launch Demo marks the apex of a five-year-long development program. On our journey to open up space for everyone we've conducted hundreds of hotfires of our engines and our rocket stages, performed two dozen test flights with our carrier aircraft, and conducted countless other tests of every bit of the system we could test on the ground.



Launching from the Earth to space is mind-bogglingly difficult. Thousands of components all need to function as planned while controlling high energy and flying at incredibly fast speeds. The vehicle's structures must be robust enough to tolerate traveling at up to 18,000 mph without disintegrating; the temperatures and pressures of its propellants can't be too high or too low; every internal valve must click open and closed in perfect synchronicity...  There's a long list of factors that need to line up in order to make it all the way. We're mindful of the fact that for the governments and companies who have preceded us in developing spaceflight systems, maiden flights have statistically ended in failure about half of the time.

In the future, the goal of our launches will be to deploy satellites for a new generation of space-based services. For this Launch Demo, though, our goal is to safely learn as much as possible and prove out the LauncherOne system we've worked so hard to design, build, test and operate.

The instant our Newton Three engine ignites, we will have done something no one has ever done before — lighting an orbital-class, liquid-fueled, horizontally-launched vehicle in flight. Once we reach an altitude of 50 miles it will be the first time this kind of launch system will have ever done so.

We'll continue the mission for as long as we can. The longer LauncherOne flies, the more data we'll be able to collect. Should we defy the historical odds and become one of those exceedingly rare teams to complete a mission on first attempt, we will deploy a test payload into an orbit, take our data, and then quickly de-orbit so as not to clutter the heavens.

Regardless of the ultimate conclusion of this Launch Demo, we're excited to learn as much as we can.

We are so grateful to all of you who have followed along with us during this launch campaign — our families, our customers, and all of the others who have cheered us on, offered helpful suggestions, and celebrated the goal of bringing a new type of launch service into fruition. We look forward to sharing more on flight day. For near real-time updates follow us on Twitter (@Virgin_Orbit).  See you on launch day!

[tnt22]

https://tass.ru/kosmos/8524367

20 МАЯ, 21:49
CNBC: Virgin Orbit планирует испытать в США систему воздушного старта ракеты
По данным телеканала, испытания могут пройти 23, 24 или 25 мая


НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 20 мая. /ТАСС/. Компания Virgin Orbit британского миллиардера Ричарда Брэнсона планирует в предстоящие выходные испытать над Тихим океаном систему воздушного запуска ракет-носителей, предназначенных для вывода спутников на орбиту Земли. Об этом сообщил в среду телеканал CNBC со ссылкой на Virgin Orbit.

Испытание намечено на 13:00 по времени Восточного побережья США (20:00 мск) и может состояться 23 мая, 24 мая или 25 мая. Окончательное решение о конкретной дате пока не принято.

План испытания предусматривает отделение ракеты от модифицированного самолета Boeing 747, который вылетит из космопорта в пустыне Мохаве (штат Калифорния) и совершит полет над Тихим океаном. В июле прошлого года экипаж самолета осуществил сброс носителя с металлическими болванками, водой и антифризом для придания необходимой массы. В этот раз ракета будет нести топливо и в автоматическом режиме запустит собственные двигатели после сброса.

В Virgin Orbit информировали телеканал, что на прошлой неделе в рамках подготовки к испытанию экипаж Boeing 747 поднимался в воздух с ракетой с топливом. Подготовка не предусматривала сброс носителя и его старт в воздухе.

Спойлер

Другая компания Брэнсона Virgin Galactic 1 мая провела первое летное испытание в небе над штатом Нью-Мексико космолета Unity серии SpaceShipTwo. Unity стартовал на высоте 15,2 км, отделившись от самолета-носителя Eve, и совершил планирующий полет, приземлившись в космопорте в Нью-Мексико. Аппарат развил скорость в 0,7 Маха. Космолеты серии SpaceShipTwo разрабатывались для выполнения регулярных туристических суборбитальных полетов.

[свернуть]

Прим. Исключаем 23 мая - см. пресс-релиз Virgin Orbit (#295)

[tnt22]

https://tass.ru/kosmos/8526157

21 МАЯ, 10:01
Virgin Orbit 24 мая проведет испытания орбитальной ракеты в воздухе над Тихим океаном
Предстоящее демонстрационное испытание готовилось пять лет

НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 21 мая. /ТАСС/. Компания Virgin Orbit британского миллиардера Ричарда Брэнсона планирует 24 мая провести над Тихим океаном демонстрационное испытание системы воздушного запуска ракеты-носителя, предназначенной для вывода спутников на орбиту Земли. Как сообщила Virgin Orbit в среду, она впервые попытается отправить ракету таким способом в космос.

Испытание намечено на ближайшее воскресенье и при неблагоприятных обстоятельствах будет перенесено на 25 мая. В обоих случаях временное окно открывается в 10:00 по времени Западного побережья США (20:00 мск) и закрывается через четыре часа. "Это означает, что самолет Boeing 747 под названием "Космическая девушка" будет подготовлен к тому, чтобы подняться в воздух из космопорта в пустыне Мохаве, совершить полет над Тихим океаном и сбросить орбитальную ракету LauncherOne, состоящую из двух ступеней. Ракета затем впервые запустит двигатель в воздухе", - пояснила компания.

Предстоящее демонстрационное испытание готовилось пять лет. Virgin Orbit за это время провела сотни огневых испытаний ракетных двигателей, два десятка испытательных полетов модернизированного "Боинга-747" и бесчисленное количество тестов узлов и элементов системы воздушного старта. В июле прошлого года экипаж самолета осуществил сброс носителя с металлическими болванками, водой и антифризом для придания необходимой массы. В этот раз ракета будет заправлена топливом и в автоматическом режиме запустит собственные двигатели после сброса.

Virgin Orbit отдает себе отчет, что летные испытания схожих систем, осуществленные правительственными организациями и частными компаниями, статистически заканчивались провалом на середине отпущенного времени. В данном случае задача заключается в том, чтобы носитель пролетел как можно дольше, позволив бортовым приборам собрать как можно больше полезной информации. В случае успешного выхода в космос LauncherOne выведет на орбиту экспериментальный груз и сойдет с орбиты, чтобы не создавать помех другим аппаратам.

Спойлер

Другая компания Брэнсона Virgin Galactic 1 мая провела первое летное испытание в небе над штатом Нью-Мексико космолета Unity серии SpaceShipTwo. Unity стартовал на высоте 15,2 км, отделившись от самолета-носителя Eve, и совершил планирующий полет, приземлившись в космопорте в Нью-Мексико. Аппарат развил скорость в 0,7 Маха. Космолеты серии SpaceShipTwo разрабатывались для выполнения регулярных туристических суборбитальных полетов.

[свернуть]

[tnt22]

Уведомления:

NOTAMs

KZLA

A0930/20 - DCC LAUNCHERONE F1 STNR ALT RESERVATION WI AN AREA DEFINED AS
3314N11953W TO 3253N11931W TO 3249N11928W TO 3248N11927W TO 3142N11855W TO 3132N11915W TO 3255N11952W TO 3257N11953W TO POINT OF ORIGIN.
SFC - UNL, 23 MAY 17:00 2020 UNTIL 23 MAY 21:00 2020.
CREATED: 20 MAY 12:28 2020

05/150 (A0943/20) - AIRSPACE DCC LAUNCHERONEF1 STNR ALT RESERVATION WI AN AREA DEFINED AS
3314N11953W TO 3253N11931W TO 3249N11928W TO 3248N11927W TO 3142N11855W TO 3132N11915W TO 3255N11952W TO 3257N11953W TO POINT OF ORIGIN.
SFC-UNL. 24 MAY 17:00 2020 UNTIL 24 MAY 21:00 2020.
CREATED: 21 MAY 11:25 2020

NOTMAR

NAVAREA XII 217/20

EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.
CALIFORNIA.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING
    231700Z TO 232100Z MAY,
    ALTERNATE 241700Z TO 242100Z MAY AND
    251700Z TO 252100Z MAY IN AREAS BOUND BY:
A. 28-10-35N 117-47-52W, 28-11-04N 117-18-46W,
    32-45-48N 119-23-34W, 33-08-27N 119-37-00W,
    33-05-38N 120-01-04W, 31-26-15N 119-13-29W.
B. 23-40-22N 115-41-11W, 22-39-51N 115-52-53W,
    21-54-40N 115-31-38W, 21-33-36N 114-47-51W,
    22-17-17N 114-31-23W, 22-55-31N 114-54-47W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 252200Z MAY 20.//

Authority: VIRGIN ORBIT, LLC 200012Z MAY 20.

Date: 200031Z MAY 20
Cancel: 25220000 May 20

[tnt22]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/05/21/virgin-orbit-schedules-its-first-orbital-test-launch-for-this-weekend/

Virgin Orbit schedules its first orbital test launch this weekend
May 21, 2020 | Stephen Clark


A full-scale mock-up of Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket falls away from a modified Boeing 747 carrier jet during an inert drop test in July 2019 over the Mojave Desert of California. Credit: Virgin Orbit

The first orbital test flight of Virgin Orbit's privately-developed air-launched rocket is scheduled as soon as Sunday off the coast of Southern California, the company said Wednesday.

Designed to deliver small satellites into orbit, the LauncherOne vehicle has a four-hour window Sunday opening at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT; 1700 GMT) to head into space after release from the belly of Virgin Orbit's Boeing 747 carrier aircraft. A backup launch opportunity is available at the same time Monday.

"We will only proceed with the mission if all conditions for launch are nominal," Virgin Orbit said in a press kit for the demonstration flight. "Although air-launched systems like ours are less vulnerable to bad weather than fixed ground-launch systems, we'll be watching the weather closely and being cautious for this maiden flight."

Virgin Orbit announced the target launch date Wednesday as the company nears the final phase of an eight-year development effort that began as a spinoff of sister company Virgin Galactic, which focuses on the suborbital space tourism market.

Both companies are part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group. The LauncherOne vehicle aims to become the first liquid-fueled air-launched rocket to reach orbit.

Virgin Galactic says it first studied the LauncherOne concept in 2007, and development began in earnest in 2012. Engineers in 2015 scrapped initial plans to drop the rocket from Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, and kicked off development of a redesigned system using a 747 jumbo jet taken from Virgin Atlantic's commercial airline fleet.

Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Virgin Orbit was established in 2017 as a spinoff of Virgin Galactic.

"This Launch Demo marks the apex of a five-year-long development program," Virgin Orbit said in a statement. "On our journey to open up space for everyone, we've conducted hundreds of hotfires of our engines and our rocket stages, performed two dozen test flights with our carrier aircraft, and conducted countless other tests of every bit of the system we could test on the ground."

In the last six weeks, Virgin Orbit completed a captive carry test of the LauncherOne rocket. Teams filled the vehicle with kerosene fuel and cryogenic liquid nitrogen, a stand-in for liquid oxygen used as an oxidizer during a real launch, and the 747 carrier aircraft — named "Cosmic Girl" — took off from Virgin Orbit's flight operations base at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Virgin Orbit exercised propellant loading, takeoff, tracking and telemetry, and return-to-base procedures during the captive carry test April 12. The company completed additional rehearsals on the ground in recent weeks, practicing filling and draining the rocket's supply of kerosene and liquid oxygen.

Now the rocket is ready to fly, Virgin Orbit said this week.


Virgin Orbit's rocket carrier aircraft sits near the runway at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where teams will fill the LauncherOne vehicle with liquid propellants before takeoff. Credit: Virgin Orbit

Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit's CEO, told Spaceflight Now last month the LauncherOne's first flight will carry some "test payloads" the company developed. He said Virgin Orbit will release details about the payloads on the inaugural launch at a later time.

Hart characterized the first flight as "an engineering test."

"Of course, we would love it to get to orbit," Hart told Spaceflight Now. "The more of the system that we can exercise, the more confidence that we'll have for the next flight. We do know, and we're mindful, that a first flight is not without risk."

"We're mindful of the fact that for the governments and companies who have preceded us in developing spaceflight systems, maiden flights have statistically ended in failure about half of the time," Virgin Orbit said in a statement Wednesday.

"In the future, the goal of our launches will be to deploy satellites for a new generation of space-based services," the company said. "For this Launch Demo, though, our goal is to safely learn as much as possible and prove out the LauncherOne system we've worked so hard to design, build, test and operate."

Piloted by Kelly Latimer, Virgin Orbit's chief test pilot, the 747 carrier aircraft will line up for its launch run west of San Nicolas Island, which is owned by the U.S. Navy. The targeted drop point is located roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) west-southwest of Long Beach.

Latimer will command the airplane onto climb angle of more than 25 degrees. The nearly 30-ton rocket will be released from a pylon under the 747's left wing during the pull-up maneuver at an altitude of around 35,000 feet (nearly 10,700 meters).

Around five seconds after release, the rocket's kerosene-fueled NewtonThree engine will ignite with 73,500 pounds of thrust to begin climbing into orbit.

"The instant our NewtonThree engine ignites, we will have done something no one has ever done before — lighting an orbital-class, liquid-fueled, horizontally-launched vehicle in flight," Virgin Orbit said.

"We'll continue the mission for as long as we can," the company said. "The longer LauncherOne flies, the more data we'll be able to collect. Should we defy the historical odds and become one of those exceedingly rare teams to complete a mission on first attempt, we will deploy a test payload into an orbit, take our data, and then quickly de-orbit so as not to clutter the heavens."

If everything goes as Virgin Orbit hopes, the company intends to restart the second stage's NewtonFour engine once in space, validating the rocket's ability to deliver payloads to different orbits on the same mission.

The mission profile for the first LauncherOne flight lasts 32 minutes from the time of the rocket's release from the "Cosmic Girl" jumbo jet until separation of its payload in orbit.


After takeoff from Mojave, the "Cosmic Girl" carrier jet will fly to the west, then south over the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. Once over the Pacific Ocean, the aircraft will fly in a racetrack pattern before lining up on the rocket's southeasterly flight path. Release of the rocket is expected about 50 minutes after takeoff from Mojave. Credit: Virgin Orbit

The 70-foot-long (21-meter) LauncherOne rocket is designed to compete with other commercial smallsat launchers, such as Rocket Lab's Electron booster, for contracts to deliver CubeSats and microsatellites to orbit for commercial customers, the U.S. military and NASA. Virgin Orbit says it can haul up to 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of cargo into a 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) polar sun-synchronous orbit, a standard operating orbit for Earth-imaging satellites.

A dedicated launch by Virgin Orbit sells for around $12 million.

Hart said last month that Virgin Orbit plans to have a chase plane for the launch, and video cameras are mounted on the aircraft and the the LauncherOne vehicle itself to capture the rocket's release from the carrier jet, first stage ignition and climb into space.

But the company does not plan to provide a live public webcast for the LauncherOne demonstration flight. Instead, Virgin Orbit will release updates on Twitter as the mission progresses.

[triage]

А может лучше не в теме пилотируемых полетов, Пегас в этой теме форума не летал.

[tnt22]

К #3

Карта закрываемых зон (A0943/20, NAVAREA XII 217/20)

Вы не можете просматривать это вложение.

[tnt22]

А может лучше не в теме пилотируемых полетов, Пегас в этой теме форума не летал.

Может и лучше, но промашка вышла... Написал админу в личку, ждём-с...

[tnt22]

 Jeff Foust @jeff_foust 1 ч

Couple notes from a Virgin Orbit media telecon about their upcoming LauncherOne test:
• Preparations continue smoothly, weather  looking good
• Test payload is a "nice-looking inert mass"
• Hope to launch 1-2 more times this year, double that next year

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Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 4 ч. назад

We completed fueling of our LauncherOne rocket yesterday for our Launch Demo. Everything has been proceeding smoothly: team, aircraft, & rocket are in excellent shape. However, we have one sensor that is acting up. Out of an abundance of caution, we are offloading fuel to address


4 ч. назад

This means we are scrubbed for today. Currently, it appears we've got a straightforward path to address this minor sensor issue and recycle quickly. The crew are already hard at work putting that plan into action. We'll provide an update on the new launch target later today.

[tnt22]

https://tass.ru/kosmos/8552595

24 МАЯ, 23:12
Virgin Orbit из-за неполадок отложила испытания системы воздушного старта ракеты
Выяснилось, что "один датчик работает ненадлежащим образом"

НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 24 мая. /ТАСС/. Американская компания Virgin Orbit отменила из-за технических неполадок запланированные на воскресенье демонстрационные испытания системы воздушного запуска ракеты-носителя, ожидается, что их проведут в понедельник. Об этом сообщили в Twitter фирмы, которая принадлежит британскому миллиардеру Ричарду Брэнсону.

Ранее на этой неделе в Virgin Orbit заявили, что модифицированный самолет Boeing 747 во время полета над Тихим океаном сбросит орбитальную ракету LauncherOne, предназначенную для вывода спутников на орбиту Земли. Предполагалось, что затем двигатели этой ракеты впервые будут запущены в воздухе. В компании отмечали, что это ее первая попытка отправить в космос ракету с грузом таким способом. В Virgin Orbit допускали, что испытания могут быть перенесены на 25 мая.

В Twitter компании отметили, что LauncherOne была заправлена топливом в субботу. После этого выяснилось, что "один датчик работает ненадлежащим образом". В работе остальных систем не зафиксировали каких-либо неполадок.

Представители компании отметили, что испытания в воскресенье были отменены "в целях предосторожности". В Virgin Orbit подчеркнули, что ее специалисты, вероятнее всего, смогут быстро устранить проблему с датчиком. Представители компании сообщили, что вскоре назовут точное время следующих испытаний.

В Virgin Orbit предполагают, что с помощью LauncherOne можно будет выводить на орбиту спутники массой до 500 кг. В компании считают, что испытываемый ею метод запуска ракеты со спутником может обеспечить большую мобильность, а также быть дешевле, чем у конкурентов.

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Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 3 ч. назад

Our team has worked diligently to resolve the sensor issue and recycle the system. We're now back in the countdown, and are currently targeting another launch attempt tomorrow, with our window again open from 10 AM to 2 PM Pacific (17:00 – 21:00 UTC).

Сегодня, 25 мая с 20:00 до 24:00 ДМВ

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 Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 25 мин. назад

Good morning, world! Today is a momentous occasion for the Virgin Orbit team: operations for the first orbital launch demonstration of our LauncherOne rocket are well underway.

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 Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 25 мин. назад

After a promising pre-flight briefing this morning, weather remains favorable for our target launch window today.

As a reminder, we will not be livestreaming this flight — but stick around and refresh this feed for updates as the action happens.

[tnt22]

 Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 21 мин. назад

Since opening the doors to our Long Beach facility in 2015, a tremendous amount of work has gone into designing, manufacturing and testing LauncherOne, an air-launched vehicle built specifically to serve small satellite customers around the world.

[tnt22]

Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 11 мин. назад

Today, our main focus is collecting as much data as possible and learning more than we ever have before about our launch system.


1 мин. назад

The test payload onboard LauncherOne today has allowed us to test our full end-to-end system — from analyzing a payload to integrating it into the rocket and ultimately, if the space gods are with us, to deploying it in space.

[tnt22]

 Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 29 с. назад

LOX (liquid oxygen) loading is progressing smoothly, an operation which began a little after 8 AM this morning. We successfully completed fuel loading operations for RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1) yesterday evening.

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 Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 26 мин. назад

The way that we support and launch our rocket is quite different from vertically launched platforms, so here's a handy guide to the various trailers that make up our mobile ground support equipment.

(2:00)

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Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit 19 с. назад

UPDATE: LOX loading is now complete. We're proceeding smoothly through our countdown and are currently on track for our target takeoff time of approximately 11:40 AM Pacific.

Пуск намечен на 18:40 UTC / 21:40 ДМВ

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 Virgin Orbit @Virgin_Orbit
10 мин. назад

Our flight crew is preparing to board the aircraft. Cosmic Girl is piloted today by our Chief Test Pilot Kelly Latimer, who has been the wind beneath our wings throughout our entire flight test program.


6 мин. назад

Joining her in the co-pilot's seat is Todd Ericson.