Cornwall the hub of a spacefaring nation ? But... but it's
Cornwall ! Home of cream teas ! Beekeepers ! Faaaarrrmers who say, "oooh-arrrrrr !" a lot for absolutely no reason ! Sleepy country villages by the seaside ! This is literally true, I've been there. Obviously it would be better to launch from a nice tall Welsh mountain....
The UK government and Cornwall Council are prepared to invest up to £20m into Newquay airport (Spaceport Cornwall) to make it a base for Virgin Orbit. Orbit is the satellite launch system currently being developed in the US by Sir Richard Branson. This system intends to despatch rockets to space from under the wing of a converted Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet. If everything comes together it could see the jet, called Cosmic Girl, operating out of Newquay in the early 2020s.
This rocket has yet to have its maiden flight but Mr Pomerantz said this should happen before the end of the year. "That's what we're aiming for." At the moment, Cosmic Girl is running simulation missions out over the Pacific Ocean from California. Very soon, the jumbo will do a drop test in which the rocket is released from under the wing and allowed to fly free - but without igniting the rocket motor. This will check the booster's flight characteristics. Assuming that goes well, Virgin Orbit will then move towards the first full-up orbital test of LauncherOne.
Julian German, the leader of Cornwall Council, commented: "Cornwall is the birthplace of innovation and technology and space is at the heart of our 21st Century economy. "With assets like Spaceport Cornwall, world-class mission control facilities at Goonhilly Earth Station and superb digital connectivity, Cornwall will play a vital role in the growth of the global space economy."
The UK government and Cornwall Council are prepared to invest up to £20m into Newquay airport (Spaceport Cornwall) to make it a base for Virgin Orbit. Orbit is the satellite launch system currently being developed in the US by Sir Richard Branson.
Surely what we really want is some sort of SSTO spaceplane that can take-off and land from a completely normal runway, that way it would have the advantage that it could fly to the closest major airport in the world to pick up a satellite from the factory, then from the airport near the factory to one at the desired latitude to enable the correct inlination for the launch, then up to orbit from there. The technology is some way off, but skylon could be getting towards it quite soon. Also, it is usually best to launch from an east coast, not a west coast, unless you do have some sort of versatile spaceplane which can fly around a while before making the ascent to orbit then launching from an east coast lets you go with rather than against earth's rotation while not passing over populated places (a rocket crash in the sea probably won't kill anyone or damage anything on the ground).
ReplyDeleteI want a spaceship that takes off horizontally like a plane and lands vertically like a rocket. Because the other way round is too mainstream. :)
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