University’s space experts welcome private space satellite launcher plan

Monday 16 July 2012

Sir Martin Sweeting, Director of the Surrey Space Centre and Executive Chairman, of SSTL, said: “Small satellites, such as those being built at the Surrey Space Centre as well as SSTL, need timely and low cost launchers.

“This imaginative initiative by Virgin Galactic addresses this need and we are excited to be part of the team".

With substantial funding already raised from Virgin Galactic's partner aabar Investments PJS, and with commercial flights of this new orbital launch vehicle expected to begin by 2016, Virgin Galactic aims to offer frequent and dedicated launches at the world's lowest prices.

Virgin Galactic also announced that four private companies have already put down deposits as future LauncherOne customers, expressing their intent to purchase a total of several dozen launches, which would exceed the level of early commitment of any previous new launch vehicle.

At the same event, Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richard Branson said: “Now, LauncherOne is bringing the price of satellite launch into the realm of affordability for innovators everywhere, from start-ups and schools to established companies and national space agencies. It will be a critical new tool for the global research community, enabling us all to learn about our home planet more quickly and affordably."

LauncherOne will be a two-stage vehicle capable of carrying up to 500 pounds (225 kilograms) to orbit for prices below $10 million.

The rocket will be launched from Virgin Galactic's proven WhiteKnightTwo aircraft also designed to carry SpaceShipTwo aloft to begin her suborbital missions.

Sir Martin Sweeting, the founder of SSTL, spoke at the Farnborough event about the growing potential of the small satellite industry.

Editors' Notes

About Surrey Space Centre

The Surrey Space Centre (SSC), a Research Centre of the Faculty of Electronics and Physical Sciences (FEPS) at the University of Surrey, is a world leading Centre of Excellence in Space Engineering, whose aim is to underpin the technical development of the space industry through its advanced research programmes.

SSC, comprising 10 academic staff, 11 research fellows and over 60 postgraduate researchers, develops new innovative technologies which are exploited by the space industry.

Surrey's pioneering small satellite activities started in 1979 as an academic activity at the University, leading to the formation of a highly successful spin-out company – Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL).

Astrium acquired SSTL in 2009 and established a long-term strategic collaboration with the University to further advance the University’s cutting edge space research capacity.

The University of Surrey Space Centre (SSC) remains the world’s leading research centre for small, low cost space missions, generating leading research and bringing innovation to SSTL to push the boundary of low cost small satellite applications; to develop next generation low cost small satellite technologies.

SSC provides well focused space engineering education, postgraduate and industrial short courses, training the next generation space scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and business leaders. It has a large body of PhD, academic and industrial research, with a direct route through SSTL for rapid commercialisation.

SSC's Academic Research Laboratories cover advanced multidisciplinary small satellite and space system engineering techniques for Earth orbit and interplanetary space; innovative communications, remote sensing, robotics and space science payloads for small satellites; and enabling technologies for low cost space exploitation and planetary exploration, working in close collaboration with SSTL.

About Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic, owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and aabar Investments PJS, is the world's first commercial spaceline, dedicated to revolutionising space access.

Virgin Galactic will carry people and payloads to space on suborbital flights allowing an out-of-the-seat zero-gravity experience, offering astounding views of the planet from the black sky of space, and conferring astronaut status to those on board.

The carrier craft ("WhiteKnightTwo") and space vehicle ("SpaceShipTwo") were both custom-designed by Scaled Composites and closely based on Scaled's legendary SpaceShipOne, the Burt Rutan-designed vehicle that in 2004 claimed the $10 million Ansari X Prize as the world's first privately developed manned spacecraft. 

The test flight program for both SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo is well underway, and Virgin Galactic is preparing for commercial operations, which will be based at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Already, more future astronauts have paid deposits for flights on SpaceShipTwo than have been to space throughout all of human history. Virgin Galactic's sister enterprise The Spaceship Company, a joint venture between Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, is now manufacturing additional sets of the Scaled vehicles.

Virgin Galactic is also designing "LauncherOne," a new air-launched rocket specifically developed to deliver small satellites into orbit. With commercial flights of LauncherOne expected to begin as early as 2016, Virgin Galactic aims to offer frequent and dedicated launches at the world's lowest prices, transforming the growing small satellite market.

About aabar Investments PJS

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, aabar Investments PJS invests in various sectors including infrastructure, aviation, real estate, automotive, commodities, energy and financial services. IPIC acquired a stake in aabar in 2008 and has since progressively increased its stake to the current level of 95%.

Since IPIC's initial investment, aabar has made numerous investments including stakes in Daimler AG, Falcon Private Bank Ltd., Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, UniCredit S.p.A., Galactic Ventures LLC, XOJET, Inc., Glencore International plc and a portfolio of real estate projects.