A very significant military space agreement was signed by one of the leading private space companies with Luxembourg. It is planned to create a so-called mobile cosmodrome in this country, and it will be used for the urgent launch of military satellites in the interests of NATO. The very method of launching satellites is no less exotic.Virgin Orbit's Boeing 747, which has its own name Cosmic Girl, has arrived in the UK on the eve of the first ever orbital launch in the interests of the United Kingdom.
Virgin Orbit plans to launch from the New Key Space Center in Cornwall in November to launch the Start Me Up mission.
In addition, Virgin Orbit signed a memorandum of intent with the Luxembourg Ministry of Defense to begin working on the organization of a "mobile spaceport" in the duchy, which will be "optimized for use by NATO countries and other European allies." Why is Europe so much interested in air launch, how much more convenient is it than conventional spaceports and why does NATO need it?
Air launch is a method of launching rockets or rocket planes from a height of several kilometers, where the launched vehicle is delivered. Most often this is done with the help of a carrier aircraft, but in theory, both a balloon and another rocket can be used for this.
This method is not new. Already in 1958, even before the beginning of the era of manned cosmonautics, the United States of America created experimental rocket planes launched from carrier aircraft. For example, to launch an X-15 rocket plane with a pilot inside, a B-52 carrier aircraft was used, to the fuselage of which a rocket plane was attached.
Subsequently, many orbital launch projects were developed by different countries using an air stratum. To do this, it was proposed to use both the An-225 "Mriya", and the Tu-160, and many others.
The main problem of the air launch for a long time remained a small mass put into orbit. The fact is that to put at least a couple of tons into low Earth orbit, a rocket with a launch mass of about 100-200 tons is required, which goes beyond the lifting capacity for existing aircraft (An-124 lifts 120 tons maximum).
For a long time, the only working air launch system remained the American Pegasus, capable of putting up to 443 kilograms of payload into orbit with a launch mass of 18-23 tons. As a carrier aircraft, first the B-52 was used, and later the Stargazer (modified Lockheed L-1011 TriStar). In total, more than 40 launches were carried out, but the system did not gain much popularity.
However, since 2021, a new player has entered the market – Virgin Orbit, created by billionaire Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Corporation. Virgin Orbit uses the Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft (this is a modified Boeing 747-400) and a LauncherOne rocket capable of putting up to 500 kilograms into low–Earth orbit and up to 300 into sun-synchronous. In total, five launches have been made since May 2020, of which the first was unsuccessful, and the remaining ones were quite successful.
But why the air launch? How is this method better than a traditional spaceport?
At first glance, the main reason is the opportunity to make the launch more cost–effective, because two parameters are important for putting the payload into orbit: first of all, the speed and second, the altitude gained. It would seem that the plane gives the rocket a gain in both speed and altitude. But alas, in fact, a modern carrier aircraft can not help the launch so much. The economic gain from the air launch does not exceed 10-11% of the ground launch.
Oddly enough, but the greatest advantages of an air launch lie in logistics. There is no need to create a special spaceport, you can use the existing infrastructure. There is no need to allocate the drop fields for the rocket stage, the launch can be carried out over the ocean. A separate plus is the ability to launch from the most efficient point: from the equator – for most orbits, and closer to the north – for launches to polar orbits. Well, the main thing is not to bother with the transportation of the rocket: the carrier aircraft itself will arrive at the right place and pick up the rocket with the payload.
As a result, with the existing technologies and capabilities of carrier aircraft, an air launch is a convenient, but far from ideal way to launch a small spacecraft weighing 200-500 kilograms quickly and without unnecessary expenses. Taking into account the trends of recent decades, which have greatly reduced the weight of satellites, the air launch is, in fact, point urgent launches. And most of all they are interesting to the military.
Thus, the main task of the new "cosmodrome" with an air launch system will be the launching into orbit of small communication satellites, satellites for remote sensing of the Earth, for reconnaissance. Radar satellites can also fit under the head fairing in size. That is, it is an opportunity to make an urgent launch of a military satellite into orbit cheaply, quickly and with a good reaction time.
There is no need to wait in line for the launch, no need to get involved with the transportation of the spacecraft and the possible leakage of information. Virgin Orbit picks it up directly from the factory, where specialists prepared the rocket, from the nearest military airfield and launches it as soon as possible. It is very comfortable.
I must say that Richard Branson understood all this and initially positioned his LauncherOne as a convenient rocket for military launches. Of course, all the necessary speeches were made about how the air launch would be used by the business, but the actions of the company spoke for themselves. For example, certification of launches from Guam, where there are few people and practically no business, but the American Andersen Air Force Base is located.
Then negotiations were held with the United Kingdom to launch launches in favor of the United Kingdom and now the organization of a "mobile spaceport" in Luxembourg, which will be "optimized for use by NATO countries and other European allies." Everything is logical here.
The main goal is military European launches, especially taking into account the stalling and too far away Guiana Space Center (Kourou). There will also be the possibility of urgent "point" launches in the interests of the European military.
Why was Luxembourg chosen? This is also not a secret. Convenient tax schemes specially optimized for space companies. At least 70 companies whose activities are related to the space industry are based in this country. This industry five years ago gave 2% of the GDP of the microstate, now much more.
In addition, NATO may not worry that Luxembourg will take over the "mobile cosmodrome", it is too small for this. As a result, both Britain and the European countries that are members of NATO will receive a convenient tool for launching small spacecraft.
And the New Space movement, which talked about creating a new commercial space industry based on startups, has once again been defeated. As a result, modern space somehow relies on state and military orders. The possibility of long-term and large contracts allows you to survive, while the dream of commercial space development remains only a dream.
Mikhail Kotov
