UK space launch ends in failure
The rocket ignited and appeared to be ascending correctly but the rocket suffered an 鈥榓nomaly鈥� thwarting the deployment of nine small satellites
The first orbital space mission launched from Western Europe has ended in failure after its rocket was unable to reach low-earth orbit as planned.
LauncherOne was released from under the wing of a reconditioned jumbo jet that had taken off from south-west England. But the launch firm, Virgin Orbit, said the rocket suffered an anomaly -- thwarting the deployment of nine small satellites.
The company and British government departments are investigating what went wrong; there are no further details so far.
Eric Berger is Senior Space Editor at the scientific news website, Ars Technica. He told Newsday: 鈥淭he first phase performed well鈥s that second stage engine was burning there was a problem. It looked like from the data that we were seeing on the webcast that maybe there was a leak in the liquid oxygen or liquid nitrogen because the fuel was going down more quickly than expected.鈥�
(Picture: Shows a repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft, named Cosmic Girl, carrying Virgin Orbit鈥檚 LauncherOne rocket, taking off from Spaceport Cornwall at Cornwall Airport, Newquay on January 9th 2023. Credit: Ben Birchall / PA Wire.)
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