Virgin Orbit has revealed their next LauncherOne mission to space — called Tubular Bells, Part One — is set to take off in June.
Carrying three customers from three different countries to LEO, Tubular Bells, Part One is another big step forward for the company and for the industry more broadly. The smallsat revolution is here and it’s a force to be reckoned with.
The mission manifest for Tubular Bells, Part One includes:
- The U.S. Department of Defense, which is launching three cubesat sets as part of the DoD Space Test Program’s (STP) Rapid Agile Launch (RALI) Initiative. This launch, also known as STP-27VPA, was awarded to Virgin Orbit subsidiary VOX Space by the DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an organization working to accelerate the adoption of commercial technology into the U.S. military to strengthen national security.
- The Royal Netherlands Air Force, which is launching the Netherlands’ first military satellite, a cubesat called BRIK II, built and integrated by Innovative Solutions in Space, with contributions from the University of Oslo, the Delft University of Technology, and Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre.
- SatRevolution, which is launching the first two optical satellites, STORK-4 and STORK-5 (A.K.A. MARTA), of the company’s 14 satellite STORK constellation.
Tubular Bells, Part One, also pays homage to the compay’s roots as a Virgin entity, named after the first track on the first album ever released by Virgin Records.
More info and technical updates will be offered as the mission gets closer to launch. In the meantime, prepare to watch Virgin Orbit’s first official mission livestream on launch day at the Virgin Orbit infosite, which will feature real-time commentary along with footage from the company’s cameras at the Mojave flightline and onboard LauncherOne.