First Satellite Launch Approaches for Britain

A few weeks from now, if all goes well, the first satellites to be launched into space from Britain will take off from Cornwall, in southwest England.

A modified Boeing 747 outfitted to carry satellite-bearing rockets that take off midflight is expected to land in Cornwall on Tuesday evening, in advance of the launch, which is anticipated for early November.

The plane is owned by Virgin Orbit, a company that belongs to the universe of the entrepreneur Richard Branson, who competes with the billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in the commercial space race. Virgin Orbit said in a news release that among the satellites would be a device for monitoring ships at sea for the British Ministry of Defense and a communications unit for Oman, a Persian Gulf emirate.

Though a modest step, the launch would be a boost for a campaign by the British government to invest in space technology as a potential growth industry after Brexit, the country’s departure from the European Union. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a major provider of satellite launch services and rockets, has probably also added an incentive for countries like Britain to have their own space capabilities. The involvement of Virgin Orbit, which is based in California, demonstrates that the United States is crucial to advancing such ambitions.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/11/business/first-satellite-launch-britain.html