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Photo courtesy of Virgin Orbit/Greg Robinson
ExoCube 2 is among 10 small satellites flying aboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket
–A Cal Poly San Luis Obispo CubeSat will ride on Wednesday Jan. 13 aboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket on its second attempt to reach space.
The rocket includes nine other NASA-sponsored small satellites on the space agency’s next Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission. This is the first payload carried by Virgin Orbit’s rocket that will be carried aloft under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 to an altitude of 35,000 feet, released and fired into orbit.
The mothership jet, named Cosmic Girl, will take off from Mojave Air and Space Port, which will release the two-stage LauncherOne off the coast of Southern California. The launch window is 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pacific Time, “with additional windows throughout January if needed,” the company announced.
2021: Florida s rapid rocket launch cadence is likely here to stay Emre Kelly, Florida Today
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If 2020 was any indication, this year s Florida launch cadence will likely follow a similar spate of missions – crewed and uncrewed – flying from Space Coast pads.
Last year s record-setting pace of 30 successful orbital launches, which bested 1966 s 29, will flow into January as teams prepare to kick off 2021 with at least three missions. Beyond that, the cadence is expected to maintain its speed as SpaceX continues building its Starlink internet constellation and United Launch Alliance eyes 10 launches for the year.
SpaceX
With one pad at Kennedy Space Center and a second at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, SpaceX is expected to keep flying batches of 60 Starlink satellites as quickly as teams can turn rockets around.
By Danielle Sempsrott
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
MOJAVE, Calif. Ten NASA-sponsored CubeSats are preparing to fly on the agency’s next Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission, making this the first payload carried by Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket.
With the small satellites safely secured inside the payload fairing, and the fairing mated to the rocket, Virgin Orbit is gearing up for ELaNa 20, the Launch Demo 2 flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
“This initiative actually enables the market for future CubeSats or future missions needing a ride to space by providing different approaches and different options to better meet spacecraft needs,” Hector Viera, NASA’s contracting officer representative for Virgin Orbit. “This launch is going to open the doors for them (Virgin Orbit) and for NASA, and that’s a good thing.”
Blue Origin is now able to compete to launch future
NASA missions on its New Glenn rocket in development. On Thursday, the agency announced that it has awarded Blue Origin a NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract.
The NLS II is a contract vehicle under which NASA places orders from commercial providers for launch services as part of its Launch Services Program (LSP). NASA has the option to annually on-ramp new launch service providers and also new launch vehicles from existing providers. NLS II is a multiple-supplier, multiple-award, Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle with an ordering period through June 2025 and an overall period of performance through December 2027. Each supplier has its own individual contract with LSP.