Virgin Orbit

As world leaders gathered in Cornwall this week for the #G7Summit, Richard Branson shared this message about the pivotal role small satellites will play in supplementing our ability to be good stewards of the environment. This is the very crux of opening space "for good" using technology in orbit to improve everyday life for all Earthlings.

We were honored to join our friends from Spaceport Cornwall and the UK Space Agency to host Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Secretary of Transport Grant Shapps, & Steve Double MP today in Spaceport Cornwall, site of the #G7Summit. Together, we’re closer than ever to bringing launch to Britain. During today’s half-hour visit, we had the opportunity to talk to the PM and Secretary of Transport about how bringing LauncherOne to Spaceport Cornwall will help boost the UK’s incredible space industry, inspire the next generation, and enable vital environmental monitoring.

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks as the team has pushed the gas on our pre-launch activities! With wet dress rehearsal just around the corner, the stars are aligning for our launch window to open during the last week of June. #TubularBellsPartOne https://virg.in/Zbgz

Calling all student academics! If you've ever dreamed of working in a rocket factory, now's your chance: we're just about to open applications for our 2022 internship program! We're looking for the best & brightest to help push forward our mission of opening space for good. Interns at Virgin Orbit: get hands-on experience with real flight hardware are well-compensated and provided housing nearby, if needed ... often onboard to full-time positions and work alongside some of the smartest folks driving our industry forward! It's an awesome learning opportunity for anyone pursuing a career in space, whether you're interested in avionics, propulsion, launch ops, manufacturing & production, supply chain the list goes on. Plus, in addition to the more standard engineering roles, we're also hiring folks for non-technical departments, incl. Finance, Business Development, Brand & Comms, and more. The possibilities are endless! Applications open Monday, June 7th and close on Tuesday, September 7th. So don't wait too long check out our internship page ASAP to submit your application and get your name in the running. https://virginorbit.com/internships/

In today’s world, humankind relies on space-based data, products and services more than ever before but we are faced with the monumental challenge of a space domain that grows ever more contested over time. However, as small satellites become increasingly powerful, they are proving to be a highly advantageous tool for governments seeking to maintain resiliency in orbit. From the US to the UK to France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and more, NATO member countries around the ...world have begun to recognize that the ability to quickly and affordably deploy small satellites serves as a strong deterrent to unseemly behavior up in space. After all, why bother disabling a satellite when it can be easily replaced? This concept, called responsive space, is particularly effective when combined with the unique flexibility and mobility afforded by air launch, which offers satellite operators unparalleled control over their launch schedule and orbital destination. Take a deep dive into the operational benefits of responsive space and how it can ensure space remains safe, peaceful and beneficial for all people in our latest white paper, published at this year’s Joint Air & Space Power Conference. https://virg.in/Zbpg

Elated to share the news that ExoTerra's upper stage design has earned a Phase II SBIR award from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration! Developed in partnership with Virgin Orbit, this solar-powered upper stage opens the possibility for incredible smallsat missions beyond just LEO https://virg.in/ZbiN

In our latest blog, we catch up with Scott Higginbotham from NASA's Launch Services Program, a longtime space vet who currently serves as the Mission Manager for our Launch Demo 2 payloads. Read on for some fun facts about Scott’s career & the history (and future) of CubeSats https://virg.in/aCS

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a main stage engine! Able to draft agreements in a single afternoon! The passion of our contracts administrator May shines bright even on a team of superstars as part of our Justice League legal team. #VirginHeroes

In our latest video, our team’s technical leaders catch you up on everything we’ve been working on since our last flight. Building off the lessons learned from our first Launch Demo, our hardware today is better, our team is smarter, and we’re more confident than ever in our launch system. Every day we’re taking big steps forward. Since recording this, we’ve completed the round of testing and checkouts on the rocket out in the field, and have brought it back to the factory for some final hardware installations. In just a couple of weeks, we’ll move the whole system out to a taxiway at Mojave Air and Space Port to prepare for pre-launch activities.

Customers for our upcoming Launch Demo 2 mission recently made the trip out to Long Beach to get their payloads checked out and integrated into our rocket. #ICYMI, read our latest blog for a big update on where we are on the road to our next flight: https://virg.in/amQ

Applications for the Black Leaders in Aerospace Scholarship and Training (BLAST) program are now OPEN! This is a *fantastic* opportunity for Black college students interested in STEM/aerospace careers, and we're so proud to be a part of it. #DidYouKnow: Although Black people make up ~13% of the US population, just 3.6% of all undergrad engineering degrees were awarded to Black students in 2016. This is indicative of a broader trend that extends through the entire space indus...try as a whole. Since its inception, the space industry has suffered from a lack of diversity and BLAST is just one way folks are working to help balance the scales for the new generation of space lovers. On top of a $5,000 scholarship award, BLAST perks include a year-long mentorship w/ a bonafide space pro, a PAID summer internship at one of the program's partner companies (a list that includes Virgin Orbit), and more. Check out the application form for deets! http://virg.in/aYf

Our teeam had an absolute BLAST presenting our vision of UK launch to more than 150 local students from Penrice Academy and Pool Academy! Big shoutout to our friends at Spaceport Cornwall for organizing the event. Cornwall, we'll see you soon!

Mission teams finished prepping their CubeSats for the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 20 mission with Virgin Orbit this week! See how ELaNA 20 brings together universities, commercial organizations, and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The UK develops some of the most advanced satellite technology in the world. Now, it’s time to bring launch to British soil and we’re thrilled that LauncherOne will provide a responsive domestic launch capability for satellite developers there.

Shandy followed her passion for space from her native Guatemala all the way to Southern California, with an extensive career building and testing all kinds of fascinating satellite missions. In her current role as our Launch Services Manager, Shandy is helping to prepare our customers’ spacecraft for their ride to space. And with nearly a dozen payloads arriving for Launch Demo 2 very soon, it’s safe to say she’s been fairly busy! #VirginHeroes

As a launch provider committed to opening space for good, we LOVE the theme for this year's #WorldSpaceWeek celebration, "Satellites Improve Life." Launching spacecraft to orbit is no easy task, but it's so worth it for all the positive impacts our use of space has on Earth. There's been massive interest in small satellites lately, and for good reason: their low cost and short production time make it much easier to demonstrate new technologies, experiment with satellite arc...hitectures, and explore a broad range of new applications. Our upcoming Launch Demo 2 flight will carry a number of such missions like Capitol Technology University's CACTUS-1 CubeSat, which is tackling the issue of space debris by using aerogel to capture orbiting microdebris. Missions like these are what truly inspire us.

#ICYMI: Applications for 2021 paid summer internships at Virgin Orbit are now open! Aspiring engineer? Legal maverick? Financial wiz? We've got room for all kinds of talent on our team. Check out the open positions on our website: https://virg.in/3Ef

Cosmic Girl took off from Mojave last week after the United States Air Force tapped our friends at VOX Space to conduct a responsive launch sim. This exercise was part of a broader on-ramp for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) https://virg.in/WKu

To all the small satellite makers and operators out there in the world, we wanted to give you a heads up that booking a mission on LauncherOne just got a whole lot easier! In our latest Service Guide update, we've added lots of helpful info to better guide your mission planning, including new milestones for customer deliverables and more details around the acceptance testing needed to fly on LauncherOne. As an added bonus, we've also been able to reduce our random vibration loads, guaranteeing a smoother ride to orbit for our customers. Check out the new numbers at our home on the web! https://virg.in/WbK

Are you an engineering student who wants nothing more than to get your hands on some real flight hardware? Curious how you can turn your passion for finance, business, law, etc. into a career in the space industry? Well, we've got some excellent news for you... With applications opening today, Virgin Orbit internships are officially BACK for Summer 2021! We're so excited to revitalize this program for a new set of young rocketeers, many of whom go on to land full-time jobs ...at our company. Not 100% sure if you're qualified? Apply anyway. Never worked in a space-related field before? Apply anyway! The application window closes on Friday, November 13th, so head on over to our Internship page right now to check out the open positions: https://virginorbit.com/internships/ Opportunity awaits!