Virgin Orbit Plans Aggressive Flight Schedule For 2020

The new CEO of Virgin Orbit, which was spun off from Virgin Galactic to capture a share of the small satellite launch market, says the company will carry out two missions per month in 2020, despite a delay in the initial flight of the company's launcher.
Dan Hart was promoted from company president to CEO in June, and the delays fall on his shoulders. Space News reports that Hart said during a panel at the recent Euroconsult’s World Satellite Business Week in Paris that he had made a few changes in the test program, which pushed the initial flight of LauncherOne into early next year. He said that the company plans three test flights of LauncherOne before moving to commercial operations. “That gives us plenty of ramp-up time to get to the 24-level in 2020,” Hart said during the panel discussion.

Hard said that after the initial flight test program, commercial operations will come quickly, with the launch rate doubling in 2019 and doubling again in 2020, reaching a rate of 24 launches in that year.

The first LauncherOne rocket was completed a few weeks ago, Hart said. It will be used for tanking tests and stage firings in Mojave, CA.

LauncherOne will be deployed from under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 dubbed "Cosmic Girl", making operations possible from multiple spaceports.