Fwd: Virgin Galactic Opens LauncherOne Facility in Long Beach

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: February 16, 2015 at 10:57:28 AM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Virgin Galactic Opens LauncherOne Facility in Long Beach

 

 

February 12, 2015

Virgin Galactic Opens New Design and Manufacturing Facility for Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, LauncherOne

COMPANY TO HOST JOB FAIR AT NEW 150,000 SQUARE FOOT FACILITY LOCATED AT THE LONG BEACH AIRPORT

LONG BEACH, Calif. – February 12, 2015 – Virgin Galactic, the privately-funded space company owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments PJS, is pleased to announce it has leased a new 150,000 square foot facility that will house design and manufacturing of the company's small satellite launch vehicle, LauncherOne.

LauncherOne is a new two-stage orbital launch vehicle being designed by Virgin Galactic specifically to launch commercial or governmental satellites that weigh 500 pounds (225 kilograms) or less. Much like SpaceShipTwo, the company's reusable vehicle for space tourism, LauncherOne is designed to be launched from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, giving customers the ability to avoid crowded and expensive launch ranges while also picking the launch location best suited for their mission. Located at the Long Beach Airport, this new facility will allow easy transportation of rockets and of customers' satellites using WhiteKnightTwo.

Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said, "The technical progress our team has made designing and testing LauncherOne has enabled a move into a dedicated facility to produce the rocket at quantity.  With New Mexico's magnificent Spaceport America for our commercial spaceflight operations, our Mojave facilities for WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo production, and now our new facility in Long Beach for LauncherOne, we are building capability to serve our expanding customer community."

Virgin Galactic will be hosting a job fair and open house at the new facility on Saturday March 7. Prospective applicants looking for more information should visit virgingalactic.com in the coming days for complete job listings and for more information on the open house.

With a launch price aimed to be the lowest in the nation or perhaps the world, LauncherOne has already attracted the interest of numerous small satellite manufacturers and operators. Among them is the recently announced OneWeb project designed to deliver broadband services to areas of the world not currently served by terrestrial networks.  This and other ambitious projects are expected keep the Long Beach facility busy for many years to come.

US Congressman Alan Lowenthal expressed his support regarding Virgin Galactic's move to the area, saying. "I want to welcome Virgin Galactic to Long Beach and I applaud their commitment both to the state and to Southern California. This proves again that Southern California has the tools, the skills, and the talent to push not only the bounds of technology, but in this case, the bonds of Earth itself."

"California and Los Angeles County have always been home to the true pioneers of the aerospace business," said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. "We're thrilled that Long Beach attracted a tenant like Virgin Galactic, a world-renowned leader of the commercial space industry. This is one of the most exciting and dynamic businesses in the country, and they are bringing excellent jobs we need for the talented and hard-working aerospace professionals who already call Long Beach home."

"I'm extremely proud that Virgin Galactic has chosen Long Beach for its new facility and excited to welcome them to the community," said Long Beach 5^th District Councilwoman Stacy Mungo. "I have great respect for our aviation history, and this innovative satellite project will bring a spotlight to Long Beach and to our partnerships for economic development."

 

 

© 2015 virgingalactic.com all rights reserved.

 

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Virgin Galactic Opens LauncherOne Facility in Long Beach

by Jeff Foust — February 12, 2015

Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne. Credit: Virgin Galactic

WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic announced Feb. 12 that the company is opening a new facility in Long Beach, California, devoted to development of its small satellite launch vehicle.

Virgin Galactic said that it is leasing a 13,900-square-meter building at the Long Beach Airport that it will use for the design and manufacturing of LauncherOne. The company did not disclose the terms of the lease.

"The technical progress our team has made designing and testing LauncherOne has enabled a move into a dedicated facility to produce the rocket at quantity," Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides said in a statement announcing the new facility. LauncherOne work has been based to date in Mojave, California.

LauncherOne is an air-launch system for satellites weighing up to 225 kilograms. The system will use the same aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo, as the company's SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, but replaces SpaceShipTwo with a two-stage launch vehicle using engines fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene.

At the Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Space Transportation Conference Feb. 4, William Pomerantz, vice president of special projects for Virgin Galactic, said the company has already tested engines and other "core infrastructure" of LauncherOne. "We are a fairly vertically-integrated team," he said. "We really do control a lot of the production in house."

Pomerantz said that about 60 of the 450 employees of Virgin Galactic and its wholly-owned subsidiary, The Spaceship Company, are currently dedicated to the LauncherOne program.

Virgin Galactic said it will hold a job fair at its new Long Beach facility March 7, but did not disclose how many people it plans to hire there. The Virgin Galactic website lists approximately 20 job opening related to the LauncherOne program as of Feb. 12.

When Virgin Galactic announced the LauncherOne program in 2012, it said it had signed up several companies as initial customers, including Planetary Resources, GeoOptics, Spaceflight Inc., and Skybox Imaging, since acquired by Google.

In January, the Virgin Group announced it was investing in OneWeb, a venture that plans a constellation of nearly 650 satellites in low Earth orbit to provide broadband communications, with at least some of those satellites to be launched by LauncherOne.

 © 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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