UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel)

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UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - C C - May 31, 2021

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/uk-spaceports-get-green-light-first-rocket-launch-expected-next-summer-162053.html

EXCERPTS: In case you were wondering when rockets could finally be launched from the UK, there’s some good news. You can expect to hear that not only about rockets, but about other fun stuff as well, like high-altitude balloons and spaceplanes, in the near future.

[...] Britain is now even closer to reaching its objective of becoming the first country to launch into orbit from European soil. British spaceflight reached a milestone recently, as new government regulations allow satellites and rockets to be launched from UK soil, for the first time. The future spaceports will be set up in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland, and around this time next year, we might be hearing about the first rocket being launched from one of them.

These regulations [...] mark the beginning of commercial space launches for Britain, which are meant to improve access to satellite communication and other data. Plus, the future spaceports will also have the economic benefit of creating more jobs, on one hand, and attract new business opportunities, on the other hand.

And, according to the UK government, this is just the beginning... (MORE - details)

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - confused2 - May 31, 2021

This is either very clever or very crazy. I suspect the latter.

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - C C - May 31, 2021

(May 31, 2021 03:18 PM)confused2 Wrote: This is either very clever or very crazy. I suspect the latter.

Due to its gravid ubiquitousness, the Sutherland spaceport in Scotland is a dastardly misinformation plot indeed.

The 2018 date for operation of any potential prospect has long come and gone, too. So the government ambition seems to have entered something akin to NASA's relentlessly deferred Orion, Space Launch System, and Artemis program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_commercial_spaceport

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - Yazata - May 31, 2021

I personally think that the Cornwall Spaceport is the most likely to actually do something. This is because it is being supported by Richard Branson, a UK citizen. He doesn't just intend to fly his Cosmic Girl 747 launcher plane from its home base at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. He has already inked a deal to fly Cosmic Girl out of Cornwall as well.

There's been talk about a satellite in June 2021, but it might be later than that, since British regulators are talking about Summer 2022. But it's coming. (British regulators apparently work at the same lightning pace as regulators here in the US.)

https://orbitaltoday.com/2021/01/25/spaceport-cornwall-launch-set-for-june-2021/

While it has little in the way of passenger terminals, Cornwall airport has very long runways easily capable of handling Cosmic Girl. It acquired those big runways during its earlier incarnation as RAF St Mawgan, an air base that once operated the RAF's maritime reconaissance aircraft but was closed after the end of the Cold War and handed over to the local authorities. It's underutilized now and they are hoping that Branson's activities will put it back on the map.

There's also talk about Virgin Galactic, Branson's other company, flying suborbital human spaceflights with its rocketplanes from Cornwall as well.

And hey, Cornwall isn't half as unlikely a location as Boca Chica Texas probably seemed before Crazy Elon headed there.

Artist's conception of Cosmic Girl climbing out with a rocket under its wing.

Britain's biggest disadvantage as a space launch location is that there isn't much open ocean to the east. Rockets typically launch eastwards to take advantage of the Earth's rotation which lowers the speed necessary to achieve orbit. But we can be pretty sure that the European Union wouldn't be thrilled with people launching rockets over their heads. Another disadvantage is Britain's relatively high latitude. This means that launches from Britain would have high orbital inclinations and it would be inefficient to launch geosynchronous satellites from the UK that need to orbit over the equator.

But Britain does have an overseas territory that seems almost custom designed for rocket launches. That's aptly-named Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. It's located almost on the equator. It has open ocean not only to the east, but to the west too. That's attractive for things like SpaceX Starship reentry approaches which might not be welcome over land. (Risk of breakup on reentry and bigtime sonic booms.) Ascension doesn't have any local civilian population who might object, its population is almost entirely military and military contractors. It already hosts space infrastructure in the form of tracking/telemetry stations. (There's also some very secretive electronic intelligence operations.) Ascension already has a large RAF military airfield.

Seems almost ideal for a SpaceX starship launch/landing site. Its biggest disadvantage might be its remoteness requiring long sea voyages to deliver large cargo like rockets.

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - Yazata - Jan 8, 2023

The first orbital attempt by Virgin Orbit from Spaceport Cornwall is penciled in for this coming Monday January 9 with a launch window that opens at 22:16 GMT.

The mission is called "Start Me Up" (think of the Rolling Stones song) and it has a very cool mission patch

The first orbital launch from England was originally envisioned for 2021, but British regulators obviously operate at the same lightning pace as our own FAA, so here it is 2023.

Payload appears to be nine small cubesat sized satellites for several civilian and military organizations.

https://twitter.com/spacegovuk/status/1611687111140286465

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/6945

https://twitter.com/spacegovuk/status/1611313806885404673

Virgin Orbit should have a livestream here

https://www.youtube.com/@VirginOrbit

https://virginorbit.com/the-latest/virgin-orbit-completes-final-successful-end-to-end-rehearsal-all-systems-currently-green-proceeding-toward-historic-u-k-launch/

[Image: Fl3c3opXwAIxlEW?format=jpg&name=small]

Cosmic Girl is ready

Video about shipping the rocket from California to England. It flew out from March Air Reserve Base near San Bernardino on a British RAF C-17 cargo plane. Associated support equipment flew on a cargo 747. And Cosmic Girl of course.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/O_NV_cgDiFE

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - Yazata - Jan 9, 2023

Livestream is up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Co18HcyqHk

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - C C - Jan 10, 2023

Yah, celebrated too soon.

UK's first satellite launch fails to make it into orbit
https://www.dw.com/en/uks-first-satellite-launch-fails-to-make-it-into-orbit/a-64331728

- - - - -

History made. Not vicariously through Australia this time.

Prospero (1971)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_(spacecraft)

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - confused2 - Jan 10, 2023

Looks like we have a fail. Might be an English thing (or just me) that if you're worried about failing - do it under cover of darkness. Given that the cost of a launch into space has to include insurance against your payload making an uncontrolled descent through the atmosphere and Spacex are launching to a timetable .. this has been a very expensive day for the UK space industry.

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - Yazata - Jan 10, 2023

It was a pretty lame Virgin Orbit livestream, so it wasn't clear what was happening. But Virgin Orbit eventually Tweeted that they had failed to achieve orbit.

https://twitter.com/VirginOrbit/status/1612596582926659586

I'm sorry for them, they put a lot of effort into it. And people all over Britain were excited and were watching. I'm sure that they will try again. Don't know how soon though.

RE: UK spaceports get green light, first rocket launch expected next summer (travel) - Yazata - Feb 16, 2023

Virgin Orbit official statement on the reason for the 'Start Me Up' mission's failure to reach orbit.

[Image: Fo9nFTwaIAE_HSb?format=png&name=large]

[Image: Fo9nFTyaEAAEWh4?format=png&name=large]