Withalmost 1,500of these small satellites launched so far, adding another ten might seem trivial.
But this was no ordinary launch.
The plane carried them to a height of 11 km (6.8 miles) before launching the rocket.
This was thefirst successful launchof Virgin Orbits LauncherOne rocket, marking the start of its commercial ventures.
But how does launching a rocket from a plane actually work?
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The first stage is the part that ignites at launch, powering the rocket from the ground.
When the rocket reaches a certain altitude, the first stage then separates, leaving the second to ignite.
Air-launching takes advantage of this by attaching a rocket to an aircraft and releasing it at a high altitude.
As well as saving fuel getting off the ground, aircraft launches offer other benefits.
Traditional rocket launches are often repeatedly delayed by bad weather conditions.
With an aircraft, its easy to change launch sites because it can take off from a commercial airport.
The size of the rocket is limited to the carrying capacity of the aircraft.
For comparison, LauncherOne weighs 30 tons, and will only be used to carry small satellites.
A relatively small launch vehicle, LauncherOne, has the capacity to launch 500kg into low earth orbit.
But large, expensive launches arent Virgin Orbits target audience.
In the video below,LauncherOnes first successful launch…
Whats next?
The idea of air launching has been around for some time.
Nasa launched aPegasusrocket from a B-52 bomber as long ago as 1990.
In the short term,severallaunchcontractsare already in place.
There are not many other air launch programs in development.
SpaceX abandoned an air-launched Falcon variant way back in 2012.
The Pegasus launch vehicle still exists but hasnt launched since 2019.
It remains to be seen if the systems versatility and relatively low cost will win out.
