At the beginning of the week, A Anarchy led The sudden end of Virgin Orbit’s Start Me Up missionIt was the first space mission launched from the United Kingdom. After many questioned the problem that led to the mission failure, Richard Branson’s Space Agency went public to clarify what had happened.
In Update released This Thursday contains the results of a preliminary analysis, which the company explains The mission was proceeding as planned until the first and second stages of the rocket separated.
Click on the images to recall the Start Me Up mission
Even without division, Second stageIts purpose is to put the cargo on board into orbit, An anomaly was experienced upon reaching an altitude of approximately 180 km. According to the analysis, Secondary machines are cut in advancedictating the outcome of the task.
Virgin Orbit agrees The different components of LauncherOne are the payloads it carries, failed to reach the planned target. Without going into further details, the company says that They descended back to Earth, landing in an area where they did not endanger lives or infrastructure..
Remember that LauncherOne carried satellites for seven customers, including commercial and government cargo from various countries. It featured the first satellite built in Wales, as well as the first satellite built in Oman and a joint venture between the United Kingdom and the United States.
Solved LauncherOne’s secondary crash The image was captured on video By Ramón López, one of the collaborators of the Spanish Meteorite Research Network (SPMN-CSIC) south of Lanzarote in the archipelago of the Canary Islands.
Watch the video
According to Virgin Orbit, A formal investigation has already been launched to identify the reasons that led to the anomaly in the second phase of LauncherOne. The company will continue preparations for its next mission, which will take place at Mojave Air and Spaceport in California.
One of the space agency’s ambitions is to launch space missions from the UKThis year it is in talks with the government and investors in the country to see what opportunities are still there.
“Total creator. Devoted tv fanatic. Communicator. Evil pop culture buff. Social media advocate.”
